Grocery Store Romantics
by MissLe
Summary: .SasuHina. Get a job, work, pay for college. Simple enough, right? At least, it is until one has to work under the tutelage of the extremely rude boy from school. Luckily, money is money, college is college, and romance will be just that.
1. Hired

"References are in check…decent availability…" He continued murmuring as he read over her resume with no inflection of tone or twitch of emotion on his face which gave all the more reason to Hinata to worry. Not only was it nerve-wracking enough that this was her first job interview in her entire seventeen years of being on this Earth, but fate had to throw her a curve ball like the monotone store owner who barely even registered her presence.

Abruptly, the interviewer stood up and put down her resume amongst the other large pile of them as he said smoothly, "I suppose you know the way out?"

She felt her shoulders droop against her own will. "Y-yes." Holding out her shaking hand, she gulped. "Th-thank you for your t-time, Mr. Uchiha."

He eyed her hand for a moment with a raised eyebrow before giving it a firm pump. "Not at all, Ms. Hyuuga."

Three steps before reaching the door, Hinata turned to ask without much hope, "Wh-when can I expect a reply?"

Blinking, he replied, "Now. You begin your training tomorrow."

Her mouth fell open in mute shock as he continued, "Welcome to The Fan Grocers."

---

Nervously, she shifted in her seat and resorted to taking out her anxiety by chewing on the back of her pen. Paper work shouldn't _be _this terrifying. Sign a couple papers. Write down some banking information. Ta-dah. Done.

However, any paperwork Hinata had done in her life had been in the comfort of her own home at her desk with the help of either her highly intelligent sister or cousin. Not in a cramped room filled with computers, a coffee machine and Styrofoam cups. She was supposed to finish this _before _he came back?

Well, damn.

Sighing, she focused on the tabs in the sheets that said, "Sign Here" and continued to read and fill in the blanks until the opening of the door signified the entry of Mr. Itachi Uchiha ready to collect his contract.

"Are you finished?"

The voice that asked this was slightly less deep than her as-of-now boss and sounded almost familiar. Raising her head from her papers, she looked sheepishly at the man. "Um, s-sorry, I'm not--" She stopped mid sentence and let her jaw hang open for a moment in a most incredibly unladylike way that would have made her father reprimand her in a most annoying and persistent way.

Hm, what have we here?

Arrogant and dark eyes?

_Check_.

Cold disposition?

_But of course._

Unruly black hair?

_Yes_.

Sasuke Uchiha, badass rebel in her biology, math, and English class?

_Undoubtedly so._

He merely raised an eyebrow at her before turning to exit the room. "Well, hurry up. Itachi has the next set of papers ready for you. If you have any questions you can come and find one of us." With that he closed the door behind him.

Hinata smacked her head against the stack of papers in front of her and groaned.

This definitely sucked.

--

"Did you get yelled at by anyone today?" Hanabi asked as she lounged across the large leather couch lethargically reading her magazine. She only flickered her eyes up for a moment to watch her sister collapse onto the loveseat next to her to groan face-first into a pillow.

"Hm. So…it went alright?" Hanabi licked her finger and turned the page.

Raising her head from the pillow, Hinata rubbed her eyes before sighing. "I didn't get _y-yelled _at, Hanabi. I was only doing _paperwork_." She formed the word in her mouth as if it was ready to make her vomit from the bitter taste.

"Ah. Well, why so glum then?" The younger of the sisters put down her magazine and gave a cat like stretch. "Paperwork isn't so hard."

"It is when you have Sasuke checking it over afterwards to verify your b-bank account branch." Hinata grumbled and hugged the pillow to her chest.

"Sasuke _Uchiha_?" It was at that point where the final Hyuuga child entered the room while drying his wet hair with a damp towel. "Asshole extraordinaire? Always manages to kick Naruto Uzumaki's ass?"

"Oh, you're home, Neji." Hinata looked up at her older cousin and smiled. "Welcome back." As soon as Neji had graduated from high school last year and been accepted into the most prestigious university in their vicinity, he had immediately packed up and moved out, only coming back sometimes to visit his younger cousins and evidently…to shower.

He gave her a curt nod before sitting down on the La-Z-boy chair in front of the two. "Hello, Hinata. It's nice to see you."

"How's university? Are the professors good? Well, better than high school teachers? Meet any n-nice girls?" Hinata asked and rested her head in her palms that were being supported by the elbows she placed on the couch's armrest.

"Excellent. Yes. Infinitely so. Y--" He frowned at her and placed his towel in his lap. "I do believe we were discussing your new development at work that now involves the Uchihas. Don't change the subject."

Hinata sighed and let her head now rest against the seat cushion, leaving her perfectly horizontal. "My boss is Itachi Uchiha. My supervisor is Sasuke Uchiha. I now work for their small, but fairly p-profitable company."

Neji slumped in his seat and rubbed his temples before sighing deeply. Hanabi watched her two favourite relatives with interest and sat up slightly straighter.

"Quit."

"What?" Hinata blanched and recoiled. "Y-you want me to quit? After all the work I put into getting here?"

"Well, you can't be working for _Uchihas_." Neji snapped and resumed his rough attempt at drying his hair with the towel.

"I don't have a choice!" Hinata trilled and clutched the pillow tight to her chest. "Not when father's business is going under and I need to find a way to pay for university! Or would you rather me be working at McDonalds for six dollars an hour trying to earn my tuition? I'm lucky that I'm getting this job even with the lack of work of experience I have!"

"No--I…" Neji gave a frustrated growl and threw his damp towel forcefully onto the floor. "Fuck. I don't know, Hinata. I just think that working for the Uchihas is hardly a good idea."

"I didn't kn-know that it was going to be the Uchihas who I would be working f-for." Hinata mumbled into her pillow and relaxed back into her seat.

"It can't be all that bad." Hanabi piped in as she flipped the page of her magazine.

"We'll see." Neji muttered.

--

**DEAR GOD I PROMISED MYSELF NOT TO DO THIS AGAIN. –sobs- Unfortunately for me…I've got a new plot stuck in my head for the past few months. ****Which means a new multichaptered story. Effffff nooooooo. –Despairs-**

**I better be able to work on both this AND The Perfect Candidate at the same time…**

**(LUCKILY, I've gotten the first three chapters down, so they should be up very, very soon. :D)**


	2. First Day

**C2**

"Now, I know that you only applied as the position as cashier, but along with cashier comes a lot of work too." Her supervisor, who's name written on the name tag read "Tobi", was a cheerful enough man that was undoubtedly also another Uchiha despite his friendly disposition. Still though, Hinata felt unease roll off her around this man who although did nothing to give this thought any reason to be backed up.

"Like this," He waved his hand at a long list of words and numbers placed at the till in front of them. "This is a list of all the produce codes you will be expected to remember."

Hinata's eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at all the names of so many different types of fruits and vegetables, each corresponding with their own four digit number. "How…how much time do I get to memorise them?"

"Don't worry too much about it right now. Most produce items now have stickers on them with the code, so you can just look at them. Otherwise, for the first couple of weeks, you'll be stationed at a till next to someone else more experienced." He glanced down at her slightly worried and exceedingly nervous form. "But tonight and perhaps tomorrow, you'll have someone working with you at the same till helping you along." He flashed her a reassuring grin. "Sasuke's been here for a while, he'll help you tonight."

As if on cue, Sasuke turned down one of the aisles and began walking towards her, his steady gait teemed with an air of confidence that always managed to get himself in trouble at school with teachers. It was ridiculously unfair that he had all of that confidence that attracted people with ease and he didn't even want to be around people most of the time, whereas she, Hinata, who had a backbone of a slug would've killed to be able to have the ability to attract all those people.

"Be nice to the new girl, Sasuke." Tobi said as he departed to the front desk to help a particularly unpleasant looking customer.

Sasuke merely scowled at his form before turning his face to Hinata. "I'm just going to set four ground rules down right now. One: Don't touch me. Two: I'm only here to supervise, nothing else. Three: Don't whine to me about the difficulties of you job, life, or anything like that. I. Don't. Care. Four: Just because I'm forced to be civil to you at work, don't think we're going to become best friends at school." He glared down at her. "Understand?"

"I…I didn't p-presume anything of the sort!" Hinata said defensively.

"Good." He leaned against the side of one of her counters. "Here comes your first customer."

--

Hinata wished that she did not agree to have her first shift on a Saturday evening from seven until the closing hour of eleven o'clock. Even without long lineups of people waiting for their grocery orders to be put through, the stress of having Sasuke Uchiha watch her every move and slowly drawl out a reluctant answer to whatever question she had was enough to make her old stutter come back in brief intervals.

But mostly, she waited nervously for customers to come through; something that was a slow and surprisingly rare process. Even if nothing was said between the two of them, the awkwardness of just standing together alone in the relatively empty grocery store was enough to make her shift uncomfortably next to him.

By nine, Tobi bid them good night and left for the evening, along with rest of the cashiers, leaving behind only her and Sasuke at the lonely check stand with the dimmed light indicating that it was open.

It was going to be a long two hours.

--

"Have a good evening." Hinata smiled demurely and placed the last bagged item on the conveyor belt.

"You too, darling." The woman smiled broadly and heaved the last few bags in her meaty hands. "And you did a lovely job for your first day on the job." She pointed to the sign on the sign on the side of Hinata's till that said, "New employee, please be patient!" She looked over at Sasuke and smiled, "And what a gentleman you are for helping her our so kindly."

Sasuke merely grunted and gave her a shallow nod in recognition.

The woman leaned across the counter to whisper loudly to Hinata, "How lucky you are to be working _alone _with this young man." She winked at Hinata and grinned. "He is quite the dashing specimen, isn't he?"

She could see out of the corner of her eyes Sasuke's hands curling into fists and his eyebrows furrow in what seemed to be self control. Well, if this hadn't gone from awkward to worse to terrible already.

"I--uh--" Hinata blushed a dark hue of red and squeaked, "Enjoy your evening!"

"I will." The woman flashed another toothy smile before making her way to the exit.

Once the automatic doors slid shut once more, Sasuke leaned more of his weight against the counter and growled, "I hate old ladies." He glared at her as if daring her to contradict.

"It's not normally your job to work up front, is it?" Hinata asked and quickly covered her mouth in horrified embarrassment.

He raised an eyebrow at her before shrugging. "I used to. When I first _actually _started working here, Itachi put me up front…but that didn't last too long." His lips curled up in a smirk that resembled an amused smile. "So now I just do odd jobs that need to be done, like stock, or clean up, occasionally front desk, and bakery."

"Oh," Hinata murmured, relieved that he wasn't offended.

Sasuke glanced at the clock behind them and said, "It's time to close now."

--

The sky was dark and cloudy, showing no hint of starlight or the bright moon by the time Hinata stepped outside of The Fan into the chilly autumn air. She watched the busy highway across from her that normally was teeming with cars change at the stop light from red to green in order to let a single car cross the road. Wrapping her coat closer around her, Hinata shoved her frozen hands into her pockets and began trudging across the parking lot.

"Hey!"

Quickly, she turned to see Sasuke locking the door to the store and call towards her, "Where's your ride?"

"I…I don't have one." Hinata admitted.

"What? You always drive your car to school."

Fidgeting uncomfortably, she gave no answer to this. It was hard enough knowing that in order for her family to get by, her father had to sell her car, let alone having to tell Sasuke.

"Whatever." Sasuke grunted. "Who's picking you up?"

"No one."

"Then how…you…aw, fuck." He ruffled his hair agitatedly. "You weren't planning on walking home by yourself this late, were you?"

She merely blushed and dipped her head to look at her feet.

After a moment of what seemed to be painful internal debate, Sasuke scowled and walked over to her. "I'll give you a ride." He said gruffly and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"No, it's really o-okay--"

"Don't be stupid." He snarled. "Do you _want _to be assaulted?"

Hinata blinked in surprise before shaking her head slowly. "I…I don't want to trouble you…"

"Just get into the car." He had already began his walk towards his car, waving expectantly. "You coming or _not_?" Not waiting for an answer, he opened his own car door and climbed in.

Biting her lip Hinata trotted up to his car and bent over to ask through the window. "Wh-why are you offering?" Her eyebrows creased together as she said this, hoping he wouldn't take offence in her question. She had no doubts that Sasuke would keep his hands to himself and remain relatively appropriate through the ride…but the fact he was taking the route a gentleman would take had her curious.

Scowling, he buckled his seat belt and replied, "Because Itachi would kill me for letting a girl walk home alone in the dark at eleven o'clock at night."

Smiling a little, Hinata crossed to the other side of the car and got in, murmuring, "Thank you."

"Just put on your seat belt." He muttered and pressed down on the gas.

--

"So, get yelled at today?" Hanabi greeted as her sister trudged in through the door.

Hinata kicked off her shoes, remembering her initial meeting with Sasuke in which he had barked at her his expectations with her and said, "Yes."

"Cool," Hanabi grinned and looked away from the TV she was watching. "Did you cry?"

"O-of course not!" Though she had certainly felt like it.

"Was it Sasuke?" By now, the TV was left forgotten as Hanabi lay on her stomach, her legs waving in the air and her head resting in her hands.

"Yes, Hanabi." Hinata sighed and began making her way upstairs to her room.

"Was he mean to you?" Hanabi hollered and peered around the corner to watch as her sister stopped for a moment on the stair case, her hand resting lightly on the railing and her expression lost in deep thought.

"No." She finally answered and resumed walking the rest of the way up the stairs.

**Nyahahahaaa…so, since I have up to chapter…six or something already written…I shall be uploading every SECOND day. At least…until I run out of juice or finish the story. The first seems more likely.**

**Oh, and someone seemed to be confused about Hinata's job. No, she's not a secretary, the paperwork she was doing was for the hiring and such, like filling in your banking and address info and signing papers saying she agreed to company policy and such. As it is quite apparent in this chapter…**

**She is a cashier at a grocery store.**


	3. Encounters of a Strange Kind

**C3**

"I hope you have a good day." Hinata smiled and handed the receipt to the young man who took it graciously and deposited it in his pocket.

He gave her a charming grin and winked a sparkling brown-green eye at her, causing her to blush under the attractive boy's attention. "I am now. But thanks."

Blushing further, Hinata gave him another receipt and murmured. "Just sign here, please."

"Yes, ma'am." He grinned again and signed with a flourish. "Have yourself a good one too, miss."

Ready to greet the next customer, she was surprised when he leaned over, his heavy scent of cologne drifting through her nose, filling her senses and said, "Hey, you're real cute, you know?"

Hinata merely blushed darker at this.

"Especially that blush." He ignored the indignant huffs and glares from the line up of people behind him and merely quirked his lips in a smile. "Hinata." He pointed at her name tag, wanting to make her cover it right away. "Pretty name for a pretty girl. When do you get off? Do you like coffee? Because I know this great place--"

"Hinata."

Desperately, she whirled around to see the stony face of her boss who was beckoning her down one of the aisles. "Come here."

Nodding, Hinata quickly bid her customer good bye and walked over to Itachi who was scanning the side of a cereal box that looked like it had enough colours on it to make the Pride Parade look monochromatic in comparison. "Y-yes?"

"You're off now." He pointed at the clock that indicated that indeed, it was three thirty and time for her to head home.

"Um, thank you." She said uncertainly, wondering if that was really all he had called her over for.

However, she was not disappointed when Itachi produced a sheet of paper. "It's Sasuke's schedule. I was wondering if you'd deliver it on your way home. I'll be leaving for a seminar out of town as soon as I'm off of work and I heard from Sasuke that our house is exactly on your route home."

Hinata cringed slightly at the subject of the ride home a week ago. It had been awkward and silent to say the least, though she had been ever so grateful nonetheless. "S-sure…but I'm not sure where it is you actually live…"

"The address is on the back." He gave her a curt nod. "Thank you for doing this."

"You're welcome." She shifted uncomfortably on her feet for a moment. "Um, I was wondering…I haven't seen Sasuke since he g-gave me a ride home, where is he?" She had been expecting him back the next day to assist her again, but instead her till buddy had been a smiling man named Iruka who was infinitely patient with her fumblings and mistakes. (Not that she was complaining. At all.)

"Sick." Itachi sighed and picked up a new box to scan. "He'll be fine soon."

"O-okay."

--

_Knock._

_Knock._

_Knock._

_Ding Dong._

_Knock._

She had been standing out in the cold for the past fifteen minutes trying to get Sasuke to open the door, shivering the entire time and frozen to the bone. Where the _hell _was he? Was he even home, or was Hinata just supposed to drop it off in their mail box? Just as she was about to leave, the sleeve of her jacket caught the door handle, opening the door into a spacious foyer.

Gulping, Hinata stepped in and closed it quietly behind her. She was in her boss's house. Without anyone's real permission. She was in _Sasuke's _house without express permission.

"Um, Sasuke?" She called out timidly and removed her shoes to explore for said missing boy.

On the couch in the living room before a muted TV was Sasuke laying in a position that Hinata would've expected of Hanabi, not the aloof boy in class who always walked around with unintended grace. Limbs spread across the plush leather couch in positions that couldn't have been that comfortable, Sasuke looked deep in sleep with his heavy breathing and relaxed face.

Walking over hesitantly, Hinata crouched down next to him and gave his shoulder a light shake. "Sasuke, um, I've got your schedule."

For a moment, coal dark eyes fluttered opened before squeezing shut and getting covered by an elbow. "Wh-what're you doing here, Hyuuga?" He croaked and curled up on himself.

"Your brother told me to bring you y-your schedule…" She took out the piece of paper from her purse and flattened it before placing it down on the coffee table she crouched beside.

He glanced at the page before flickering his eyes towards her again. Scrunching his eyebrows together, he reached up and tugged the scrunchie out of her long hair, letting it fall down and tickle his nose. "I don't know why you always wear your hair up…it looks better down…"

Her eyes were wide with shock as she said with a mouth that continued to gape open and shut like a fish, "D-dress code requires it a-at work…"

"Fuck the rules." He murmured as his eyes began to waver closed again. His face was flushed and hot, Hinata finally noticed with slight surprise. Gently, she pressed her wrist against his forehead and hissed at the heat.

"When will your parents be home?" She asked quietly and lightly pushed his bangs out of the way.

"They said they'd be back for Christmas…" He groaned and leaned up into her cool touch. "But what does a seven year old know? Drunks are unheard of and sports cars are _cool_."

She was still confused with his words as she let her hand stay on his forehead until her eye caught the two dark urns on the mantle. Horrified, she glanced back at Sasuke's pained face and whispered, "It's just you…and your brother?"

He merely grunted and turned onto his side, taking her hand with him and holding it against his cheek. "…Mom used to do this when I was sick. She'd check my fever, put a cold cloth on my head, make me some soup, and let me sleep on the couch with the TV on." He gave a strangled chuckle. "So I guess between the two of us we got two out of four right. Fifty percent. It's a pass."

"Sasuke…"

"You can go now." He said, but didn't release her hand. "I'm pretty sure I'm a bit delirious."

Lightly, she tugged her hand away, her heart breaking slightly at the moan he made when she did. Standing up, she took off her coat and placed it on the chair next to the TV. "I'll be right back."

--

"Drink it."

"I don't want to."

"Please," Hinata pleaded and placed the bowl of chicken noodle soup in front of him on the coffee table. "Please…"

Glaring, he sat up slightly and took the bowl to begin scooping it into his mouth silently. His movements were still sure and fluid, even if it was just drinking soup while slightly delirious with a fever. He placed down the bowl after it reached the halfway point and closed his eyes. "I'm…done."

Biting her lip, Hinata nodded and reached for the bowl, her fingers brushing his trembling ones as she did so. Pausing for a moment, she glanced up at him. It wasn't just his fingers trembling. His entire body was overcome with shivers as he leaned his head back against the back of the couch with an agonized look on his face.

"Are…are you cold?" Hinata murmured and placed her hands on his shoulders to gently push him back against the couch. By the look on his face, he looked as if he wanted to object, but said nothing and pressed his head against the pillow brought from the other couch by Hinata.

"Where do you keep your blankets?" Hinata asked softly and picked up the bowl to take it into the kitchen and place on the kitchen counter.

"Down the hallway in the closet on your left." Was Sasuke's dry throated response.

Grabbing the thickest blanket she could find, she placed it on him, debated on actually tucking him in before letting him curl up deep under the covers and close his eyes. "I suppose all that's missing is the cloth…" He yawned and glanced up at Hinata with half lidded eyes.

"It's…it's right here." Hinata mumbled and placed it on his head. She had grabbed it as a last minute thought as she had exited the kitchen.

"I never asked you to act like her." He growled and glared up at her, the ugly head of his former obnoxious self rearing its head, only to fade back as he softened and yawned, "Thank you though."

"Get better." Hinata whispered and picked up her coat, recognizing the telltale signs of a sick sleeping boy and put it on quietly. She had almost finished putting on her shoes when the door swung open, almost knocking her off her feet.

In the door way stood a tall man, his hair was spiky and grey, though his strong physique indicated he couldn't be older than thirty five. If Hinata wasn't mistaken, it was her physics teacher, Kakashi, standing there with a mixture of amusement and curiosity on his face.

"Now, what's this? Sasuke has a girl over? While _alone_?" He smirked. "This _is _surprising."

"It's not what it seems!" She squeaked and stood up properly and quickly, nearly taking her ear off with the coat hanger that whizzed dangerously close to it as she stood.

"Oh, Ms. Hyuuga. I hadn't expected such _scandalous _behaviour from you of all people." His grin widened as he watched her turn several shades of maroon.

"H-he…he's sick…a-and Itachi asked me to send him his work schedule." She managed to get out and shoved her hands in her pockets. "E-excuse me…I'm expected at h-home soon." As in, an hour ago.

"But of course." He stepped out of the way with an amused smile and a polite nod.

"Um, what are you doing here, sir?" She asked quietly with one hand on the door jamb and one foot outside the door.

"I come and check up on the two Uchiha boys sometimes. Make sure they do okay." He patted her head. "Don't you worry about it. I'm sure at some point between your two's wicked behaviour, it was mentioned that Sasuke no longer has any parents."

Blushing once more, Hinata stepped out fully and said, "Good night, sir."

"What? You're not even denying it anymore? Oh, _Ms. Hyuuga_!" He gasped in mock shock and leaned against the door jamb. "Shame on you for poisoning my innocent nephew's mind!"

Closing the door on the image of a very red Hinata who had resorted to sprinting down the street, Kakashi grinned and called, "Sasuke, she's _cute_!"

Peering around the corner into the living room after hearing no response, his grin widened at the sleeping Sasuke all bundled up in a thick comforter with a cool cloth resting on his head.

"Very cute indeed."

--

"You're late!" Hanabi accused as she leapt off of the couch and stood in front of Hinata with hands on her hips and a frown on her face.

"I'm sorry, I got caught up with something." Hinata gave a small smile and patted her sister's head.

"For an _hour and a half_? What happened?" Hanabi murmured and wrung her fingers together, a trait that was normally found with Hinata, not the confident young genius of a little sister. "Father was…worried. He's gone now though." She whispered, "You said we'd go rent a movie together."

Despairingly, Hinata glanced up at the clock that read 9:45 in bright green numbers on the oven and said, "Well, the movie store's still open, we can go get one if we leave now and--"

"Never mind." Hanabi muttered and returned back to the TV. "I have school tomorrow."

Leaning back against the door, Hinata stared up at the ceiling with distress and fought back the tears.

--

**Gah. I lovehate updating so quickly. On one hand, it gives me a sense of greeeaat accomplishment…on the other hand I feel like I get less reviews doing so. And as much as I hate review whores…I do enjoy receiving them myself. **

**This chapter was long.**

**Don't expect it again. :D**


	4. No Thank You

**C4**

"How much are you willing to bet?"

"Nothing!"

"You _suuuure_?"

"Yes, Kiba! I'm sure!" Hinata cried exasperatedly and rested her head in her hands. "There is no way I am going to let Sasuke Uchiha woo me with his badass-ness and…and…and good looks!"

The messy haired brunet sunk back into his seat with a smirk. "Good. I don't want my best friend to become crazy love sick with a jerk that doesn't deserve it." He looked away and muttered under his breath. "Not that she hasn't already."

"Naruto isn't a jerk!" She hissed and looked across her desk shiftily, making sure that no one was listening. "And he deserves a lot more than he gets!"

"Hinata, you've been in love with him ever since he moved here at the beginning of middle school and he still hasn't noticed it!" He hissed back and leaned forwards. "So yeah, forgive me for thinking that he doesn't deserve your love!"

Sinking limply into her chair, Hinata glanced over at the exuberant blond on the other side of the library who was currently leaning forwards into a certain pink haired girl's personal space, trying his hardest to earn a date with said pretty girl (who adamantly, if not with a hint of exasperation and annoyance, turned him down each time). "I know." She whispered. "I'm trying to get over him."

"Aw, Hinata." Kiba gave a pained look and sighed, "You know I didn't mean it that way…I just…"

"It's okay, Kiba." Hinata said quietly and gathered her textbooks up into her arms. "I know what you meant…study period's almost over anyways…I should head up to my locker." She gave him a weak smile. "I'll, um, I'll see you and Shino at lunch, okay?"

Unsure and with a worried expression, Kiba said, "Okay…well, I'll…I'll just see you then."

Giving back a small reassuring smile, Hinata held the books close to her chest and exited the library into the relatively deserted halls to lean back against a wall. It hurt whenever her friends brought up her futility at loving Naruto, not because it was embarrassing…

But because they were so right.

Naruto had never so much as given her a flirtatious wink or comment, even if he was kind enough to the shy, quiet weird girl who turned all sorts of shades of red when around him. Not that that was saying much at all, Naruto was kind to everyone. Naruto was the golden boy among the students, he went out of his way to help others (even if that did affect his marks…though one could argue it was just lack of interest), and never put anyone down, always encouraging was dreams or goals one had, no matter how insignificant it may be.

You see, the unfortunate thing about getting lost in your thoughts while walking towards one's locker is that the real world is rarely paid attention to at the same time. Said affliction was not above Hinata who was exhibiting such said symptoms and was thusly almost knocked right off her feet as she ran right into a rather solid obstacle.

Nervously, she glanced up and brushed back her disarrayed bangs. "Sorry, I wasn't--" The words died in her throat as she found herself looking terrifyingly up at the frowning face of a certain Uchiha orphan.

"Sasuke…" She breathed, to terrified to move. Did he remember all that happened while he was sick? Would he get mad at her? She wanted nothing more than reach into her pocket and squeeze the scrunchie in it at the moment, but instead reached into her brain and snatched the first thing she could find.

"Did the soup have enough salt?"

At his raised eyebrow, Hinata raised a hand and slapped it against her backstabbing, traitorous, and definitely evil mouth. Of all things to blurt out, she had to do the one thing that may remind him of that evening…

Perhaps his delirium had been too far to remember anything.

Ah…hope. How dare you show your cowardly face here in this crucial moment of shameless desperation.

"The chicken noodle?" His frowned deepened to an almost glare. At her squeaky mouse face though, his expression softened to that of amusement. "Uh…sure. It tasted fine to me."

"Um, good." She looked away quickly and shifted awkwardly on her feet. "Good."

"Right…" He stepped around her and continued down the hallway, a single binder that she hadn't noticed before tucked under his arm that had its hand stuffed in his pocket. "By the way, Itachi wants to teach you some other jobs around the store, like front desk, bakery, and stock."

"Wh-what? Why? Am I not doing a good job of cashier?" She bit her lip worriedly and clutched her books closer to her chest tighter.

Turning around, he sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. "No. The opposite, actually. Itachi thinks you have more potential to help around. You'll still have your job…but with more responsibilities and possibly a raise."

"But I've only been working there for a week!" A _raise_? Sasuke was definitely pulling her leg…

"Yeah, but for some reason, Itachi thinks that you're some super special type of teenager with a ridiculous amount of will power to act responsibly." He shrugged. "I dunno. Ask him." With that, he turned around once more and continued walking down the hall.

Biting her lip indecisively, Hinata called out, "Thank you!"

"For what?" He turned his head and narrowed his eyes at her. "Thank Itachi, not me."

Hinata merely smiled and continued her way down the hall with a different bounce in her step than before. Well, sure, they weren't about to be best friends at school like he had made her agree…but somehow the hostilities were surprisingly absent.

--

The Bakery was a rather misleading name, it turned out. One did not bake at all, but instead spent the time packaging away said baked goods into neat plastic boxes, and on rare occasion would write in neat curly letters on a cake. All-in-all, it was a pleasant job to have, considering she was the only one there with no one to pester her about coupons, different amounts of change, and the location of certain groceries.

At least, no one if you didn't count her supervisor.

Having Sasuke there with her, alone in the smallish room was still ridiculously nerve wracking. His words still held scathing remarks and scoffs, but somehow they seemed less offensive and mean…but perhaps it was more that she was a little less afraid of him since seeing him delirious with fever, than him actually being less rude.

"Do you get it now?" Sasuke asked and leaned against the counter. "All understandable?"

"I…I suppose." Hinata answered back quietly and brushed her bangs back with the back of her wrist. "Thank you."

He blinked before turning away and replying gruffly, "Don't thank me for everything. I'm just doing my job."

It was Hinata's turn to blink and turn away as she mumbled, "Oh, um…sorry."

"God dammit," He growled with frustration and tilted his head back to stare angrily at the ceiling. "Listen, I know I'm an asshole. I know everyone else thinks so. I know that you think so too. But, fuck, the more you put up this…innocent act, the more…_fuck_." He sighed tiredly and resumed packaging the baked goods. "Forget I said anything."

Worrying her lip between her teeth, she stopped her packaging and curled her hands into fists on the counter in front of her and said quietly, "I…I don't…" She looked away and frowned at the cookies before her. "You're not an asshole."

"Then you're definitely more naïve than I thought. Or you've joined my fan base." He spat out the last two words with a cringe. Hinata knew about the large majority of the girls in her school who adored Sasuke (though it couldn't be for anything more than his exceptionally good looks because at school, he sure as hell didn't show much else that warranted their slavish devotion other than his badass and mysterious persona), and she also knew about his loathing for it too.

"If you were an asshole…th-then you wouldn't admit it. You wouldn't consider h-having any faults." Hinata countered as firmly as her usual meekness would allow.

At this he raised an eyebrow, a quirk that Hinata was starting to find almost endearing on him, and snorted. "Right." He pointed at her nose. "You've got powder on your nose." When she didn't rub said spot correctly, he sighed and mimicked the action on his own face. "You've still got it."

Unable to suppress the tiny giggle bubbling up in her throat, Hinata pointed back and said, "Now y-you do too."

Scowling, he raised his wrist to swipe away at the white powder.


	5. The Evil And Cunning of Mushrooms

**C5**

"Hinata."

Turning with an expecting look on her face, Hinata watched as Sasuke pulled the chair out next to her and sat down in it, effectively gathering almost the entire class's (envious, on the girl's behalves) stares. Of course, not that Hinata blamed them, the ones who had no idea that they worked together would obviously never expect the mighty God of their senior class to be talking with such a lowly mortal like Hinata.

"Y-yes?"

"Itachi wants to know if you can work this Thursday from five till nine."

Pulling a wry smile on, Hinata asked, "And why is it th-that whenever Itachi wants something done like this, he always makes you come to ask me in-instead of phoning?"

Scowling, Sasuke put his arm behind the back of his chair and tilted it backwards so that it was only resting on its back legs. "That's what I keep asking him."

"Sure, I guess." Hinata answered with a light chuckle. "I can do that."

"I'll tell him you said so." With that, he got up from the chair and returned to his seat on the other side of the classroom where the incredulous stares from the rest of the class still followed him.

"Wow, I didn't know you guys were on friendly terms." Naruto whistled and turned around in his seat to cross his arms on her desk and rest his cradled head there. Said seating for Naruto was the reason Hinata had originally chosen that specific spot, because discreet staring was so much easier when said object of desire was unable to see you do so.

Blushing heavily, Hinata murmured, "We just work together…"

"Really? That's cool." He scrutinized her for a second. "So…why do you think he's such an asshole?" Obviously, Naruto was trying to defend his best friend's honour. It was often highly speculated as to why such a sunny, bright, cheery boy was so closely tied to a dark, moody, snarling boy.

"I don't think he's an asshole!" Hinata blurted back, slightly too loud for her comfort.

Naruto grinned at this. "I was just testing you. So, you don't think he's an asshole, which means you don't hate him, but you don't love him either, do you?"

"Um, no…" She whispered back and crossed her arms.

"That _is _interesting." Naruto waggled his eyebrows at her. "You're pretty cool, Hinata."

She was about ready to pass out from all the rushing blood to her head.

--

"Hinata, could you do me a favour and return these items for me?" Iruka asked and waved towards the cart full of items people had at last minute decided against purchasing. "I can handle up front…but I also have to clean the tills and it would be really helpful if you could do this for me." His voice was pleading, but also leaving her the choice to refuse.

However, Hinata liked Iruka and she knew he worked ridiculously hard, thusly deserving any break when the opportunity arose, no matter how small. So, smiling, Hinata nodded and began pushing her cart down one of the aisles. "Sure, um, I'll be back soon."

"Thanks." He grinned at her and began scrubbing the conveyor belt. "I'm glad you came to work here."

Smiling back in response, Hinata continued down the aisle. In all actuality, she enjoyed doing the returns, no matter how rare the occasion was. It was nice just walking down almost always empty aisles at ten thirty in the evening, scanning through shelves nonchalantly.

Oreos down aisle five.

Bottle of Pepsi beside till seven in the refrigerator.

Box of Wheat Thins on display in front of aisle ten.

However, down at the _end _of aisle ten was where Hinata finally hit a problem. Above her, two shelves too high for her to reach lay the home of the damned can of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup that was currently residing in her grip.

She hated mushrooms.

Pouting, she reached up as tall as she could on her tiptoes in attempt to place it there, only to have it nearly fall out of her fingers and onto her head. Well, what a dilemma to have been placed with. Already, wisps of hair were falling out of her ponytail as she attempted jumping up and down to reach it and considering just hacking it all off as all it had done so far was gotten in her vision and prove to be an annoyance.

In her attempts to place the soup back in its rightful place, Hinata had neglected to notice when a tall solid body had pressed itself flat against her back and the arm attached to it reached up to tug the container away from her. She gave a startled sound that was must've been a cross between a yelp and a squeak at the warmth radiating through her very unattractive work uniform.

"You could've just asked for help." A gruff voice muttered and placed the can of soup on the shelf with ease. "Though I admit it would've been a lot less amusing."

Turning around quickly and almost whiplash inducing-ly, Hinata stared wide eyed up at the tall Uchiha boy, her face dusting with a light shade of red. "Um, w-would you still be offended if I th-thanked you?" He was entirely too close for any form of comfort to Hinata. She could still feel his heat exude from his strong body and she could smell the subtle hint of deodorant hidden among the smell of fresh laundry.

Goodness, if her brain overloaded and short circuited right then, she would not have been surprised at all.

Her jaw almost unhinged as she watched a smile quirk on Sasuke's stupidly godly lips. A _smile_. Not a smirk or an upside down frown…but an honest to god laugh-at-Hinata's-expense-because-she's-so-damn-awkward-and-verbally-impaired-smile. She'd be lying if she said her heart didn't flutter faster as she watched this because really, when something as attractive and gorgeous as that appears in front of you, literally right in front of your face, you can't help but to feel like swooning.

"Not this time." He took a step back and returned to the mop sitting in its bucket next to them. "I'll see you in a half an hour." He said, referring to the ride he always managed to give her when she worked until closing.

Hinata raced down the aisle with her cart of return groceries to return the ginger root lying at the bottom of the basket back in the produce aisle. Far, far, _far _away from aisle ten.

--

"Do you need a ride home?" Iruka turned to ask Hinata concernedly as he shrugged on his coat and stepped outside into the chilly and windy night after holding the door open for her to do so too.

"N-no." She gave a reassuring grin back and wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck. "Sasuke g-gives me rides home when I work until closing."

At this, the older man's eyebrows shot up. "Really?" He scratched his cheek in thought as a small grin spread across his face. "That _is _interesting…"

Hinata was suddenly reminded of Naruto's eerily similar words. "Do you r-really think him so callous as to refuse me that?" She furrowed her eyebrows together and sunk her head lower to her shoulders as her hands were stuffed into her warm pockets of her pea coat.

"Not at all!" Iruka waved his hands in front of his chest defensively. "Just…knowing you and knowing Sasuke, I'm guessing that _he _was the one to offer it, wasn't he?" At her mildly surprised face, he chuckled and shook his head. "Ah, well, don't let me keep you and your very impatient ride waiting."

As soon as he had said that, a loud and obnoxious honk filled the parking lot. Sasuke was half in his vehicle, one hand resting on his steering wheel, the other one resting atop his car door. "Are you coming, or is Iruka giving you a ride?"

"No, no." Iruka laughed and began his journey to his own car. "As much as I'd love to do so, I'm sure she'd be in much better hands with you, than an old man like me."

Frowning, Sasuke stared after the brown haired man even after Hinata had gotten into the car and buckled her seat belt. "What's gotten him into such a good mood?"

Hinata answered honestly and said, "I don't know."


	6. Clarification: We are not friends

**C6**

"Ha. Pick up five."

"Hanabi, I _told _you. It's only the queen of _spades _where you pick up five."

Pouting, the youngest Hyuuga sister said, "Fine."

Chuckling lightly, Hinata turned her head to watch as Dick Van Dyck and Julie Andrews danced with penguins across their down sized fifteen inch screen. As much as Hanabi loathed to admit it, Mary Poppins was as much her favourite movie as it was Hinata's.

"_Your _turn." Hanabi's voice snapped her back to attention as Hinata blinked and stared down at her own cards, ready to put down her five of clubs until the startling ring of the phone sounded throughout their house.

"I'll get it." Hinata stretched back and snatched the phone from its cradle that sat on the coffee table next to them. Pressing the talk button, she greeted, "Hello?"

"Hinata?" The low and smooth timbre of the voice gave evidence of it belonging only to the eldest Uchiha, Itachi.

"Yes, this is her."

There was slight rustling on the other end of the phone. "We were wondering if you could work this Sunday from three until nine."

"Sunday?" Sunday was the day she had promised Hanabi they would go to the skating rink…but on the other hand, that was six hours worth of pay…

"No, I c--"

"Just do it." Hanabi had turned to face the TV. "It's fine."

Covering the phone quickly with her palm, Hinata hissed pleadingly, "It's okay, I-I can do it another day…really."

"Well, we can go skating another day too." She stood up after saying this and wandered down the hall to where her bedroom was, leaving Hinata behind to let the weight of her guilt drop onto her as she collapsed ungracefully onto the couch behind her.

Uncovering the phone, she answered, "Yes. I-I can do it."

"Good. See you then."

--

By the time Hinata managed to fit in a time to go over to the ice skating rink, it was a week later and the beginning of the winter holidays. Snow was threatening to fall, frost killed every flower in sight, and the pond was almost thick enough to skate on. Though the rink wasn't Hinata's first choice to go on a winter day (the café just a couple of blocks away that happened to double as a tiny second hand bookstore was her refuge on the disgustingly cold afternoons after school), her sister happened to adore it.

"Hey, watch this, Hinata!" Hanabi spun around backwards on her skates, zipping in and out of people in her way.

"Very n-nice." Hinata smiled weakly and pushed off from the edge of the arena, her ankles wobbling slightly. She was by no means a terrible skater, though she was no where near as beautiful a skater as her sister who had nine years of training, as opposed to her six months of it. She was mediocre at best.

"Yeah, I'm _awesome_!" Hanabi crowed and continued her backwards skating right up until the point she crashed into the very unyielding obstruction of a tall and rather opposing body.

"Hey!" She screeched and got herself up from the ice. "Asshole, you're going the wrong way!"

"Hanabi!" Hinata reprimanded in horror. "Say sorry!"

"Why? He was the one who wasn't following the flow of people!" Hanabi accused and stuck out a finger at the boy who was slowly getting up off of the ice.

"_Hanabi_--"

"Ha ha, no, it's fine." The boy laughed and brushed off his knees and backside. "I'm fine, no harm done here." He glanced up, a broad smile spreading across his face. "Hey, Hinata!"

Shooting her head up with a deer-in-headlights look plastered across her face, Hinata exclaimed back with both horror and surprise, "Naruto!"

"This is Naruto?" Hanabi puckered her face up in disbelief. "_This _is the guy that--"

"Hanabi your laces are coming undone!" Hinata squeaked and pointed at said shoes, almost stabbing her sister in the eye with her finger.

As Hanabi bent down to fix her laces (which clearly, were still tightly done up) with a withering stare at the both of them and a grumble, Naruto turned back to Hinata and grinned. "What brings you here?"

"We just…we just felt like coming." She shifted uneasily in her skates and glanced around in panic for an exit to escape to in case (in probability) that she totally said something completely awkward. Excellent. Just several feet from the exit. Meaning she could definitely skate fast enough in that distance to make it in thirty seconds flat and not fall completely on her face, though perhaps some scraped elbows and knees. But hey, who needs those anyways?

"Really? Well, I came here too with--"

"Naruto!"

Without warning a vibrant streak of red and pink smacked right against Naruto's open arms, a squeal and a giggle was emitted from the blur right before the light crash.

"Sakura," Hianta greeted, disheartened, and could almost feel herself shrinking into the background. Sakura always took up the spotlight, perhaps not on purpose, but it was as if that's just what she was born to do.

"Oh, hey, Hinata!" Sakura grinned and pushed away from Naruto who was going in for a full on hug. "How're you?"

"Fine…" She glanced over quickly at Hanabi who was tugging on her sleeve incessantly. "What?" She hissed quietly.

"_Sakura_? That's her?" Hanabi hissed back quietly into her ear. "She looks like a _bitch_. Jeez, I'd hate her too if I knew her."

"Hanabi!" She really did not want to know where her sister learned to be so foul mouthed. "She's not…and I-I don't."

"Right." Hanabi snorted and turned back to face the two brightly clothed teenagers in front of them. "Looks like another asshole friend of their's has come to join…" She murmured out of the corner of her mouth.

Before Hinata could even begin to waste her breath reprimanding her sister about her language, the quick flicker of a dark blur in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Turning quickly, she blurted out a surprised greeting. "Sasuke!"

The scowling boy turned to her, his displeasure melting slightly to an almost amiable frown. "Hinata." He nodded his head and greeted back.

"Sasuke!" Sakura squealed and clasped her hands with his together girlishly. "You promised me you'd teach me how to skate!"

He growled and shook his hands away to shove them into his jacket pockets. "I promised no such thing. Ever. And both you and I know full well that you can skate perfectly fine."

"Okay!" Hanabi clapped her gloved fingers together. "I'm gonna go and…keep skating." She shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes in the typical "Um, whatever, sure?" style ever so popular with the preteens nowadays. "You coming, Hinata?"

"Yeah," Hinata nodded and continued her wobbly skating after her sister, careful not to go to fast for fear of tripping on her own two feet and cracking her teeth on the ice. "Um, I'll talk to you guys later on…Monday?"

"Bye, Hinata!" Chirped both Sakura and Naruto in chorus.

"I'm gonna go too." Sasuke determined surprisingly quick as he jerked Sakura off the arm she managed to cling to.

"But, Sasuke--" Sakura began whining, only to be cut off by Naruto who slung an arm around her shoulders and gave Sasuke a wink while mouthing, "Thanks!"

"See ya, Sasuke, meet back later if you still want a ride home!" Naruto waved exuberantly and began skating towards the exit with talk about hot chocolate (and perhaps a movie?) to a pouting and not at all pleased Sakura.

So Hinata was left with a silent and moody boy as she watched her sister flit gracefully in and out of people with no difficulty at all.

"Keep your ankles straighter," Sasuke tapped her skate with his own. "You'll stop wobbling."

"I-I can't!" Not _all _of us were fantastic at everything we did.

Sighing, Sasuke snatched her elbow and proceeded to drag her towards the exit. "Your laces aren't tight enough then. You're going to injure yourself."

Giving a small shriek, Hinata clung tightly to his arm as he continued to bring her at a pace much too fast for her comfort over to the edge of the rink. "You're g-going too fast!"

With a slight scowl, he slowed their pace until Hinata was able to awkwardly step off of the rink and walk clunkily over to a seat to slowly begin unravelling the laces. Her fingers were numb and she mentally berated her stupidity for not bringing any form of gloves like her sister insisted.

"You're too slow." Stooping down onto one knee, Sasuke seized her ankle and placed it on his raised knee. His fingers were quick and nimble at their work of tugging them loose to retie them properly. Already, Hinata's face had heated up to a full on blush. His dark hair was messy from the skating and cheeks were flushed with colour from the exercise, which was a striking contrast in comparison to his usual pale pallor. _And her foot was on his_ (very well muscled) _lap._

Oh, she was being especially shameless today.

"You r-really don't have to do this for me…" Hinata insisted quietly and brushed a piece of her hair back behind her ear.

"You'd have taken at least twenty minutes more if I don't." Sasuke shot back and put her foot down gently before grabbing the next one to re-lace.

A sudden thought dawned upon Hinata as he said this. With wide eyes, she tugged on one of his hands. "You're…y-you're going to skate? With me? You're going to skate with me…" She released his hand before he could voice any complaints and used it as leverage as she leaned back against the bench. "Oh…"

Dropping her foot violently and suddenly, he glared up at her, his lips lifting in a snarl. "Remember what I said the first night you worked? _We are not going to become best friends_."

Slightly shocked, but not at all surprised, Hinata knit her eyebrows together. "I know…I-I'm just surprised is all." Her lips turned down in a slightly sad frown. Damn her runaway mouth, spitting out whatever came straight to mind. She bent over to continue fumbling with her laces awkwardly.

"Tch. I told you you'd take too long." Sasuke growled and swatted away her fingers, taking her foot again to continue his lacing.

Hinata figured the smile on her face at this point must've been blinding.

* * *

**SO. School's started...like, last week. Ergh...**

**Updates. Do not expect lots of on time every two days updates.**


	7. More Uncomfortable Encounters

**C7**

Her next shift at work was two days after her visitation to the skating rink (in which she learned with burning envy that Sasuke's almost distracting grace was not limited to slip-free surfaces). By the end of said certain six hour Sunday shift, Hinata could honestly say that it had been the strangest and altogether most nerve wracking one of her life.

Her first encounter had been with a known pink haired girl and her equally well known blonde crony.

"Oh, my god, _Hinata_? You work here?" Sakura had exclaimed quite vehemently and dropped her bag of chips and salad on the conveyor belt. She elbowed Ino in the ribs and hissed, "She _works _here."

"No. Fucking. Way." Ino glanced over at Hinata, an incredulous and envious look plastered across her fair face. "As in…you work here with _Sasuke_?"

"I don't even know how many times I've sent an application and resume in here!" Sakura cried out in disbelief, startling the waddling middle aged man next to her. "I've never been phoned back once!"

"Um…w-will that be all?" Hinata nearly whispered and pointed at the bag of chips and salad lying forlornly on the belt.

"What?" Looking down at said items, Sakura waved her hand in the air dismissively. "Yeah. That's all."

"Is he working right now?" Ino inquired with an almost feral grin on her face.

"Who?" Scanning the items through, Hinata hoped to God that her feigning ignorance would stall her some time to be struck down just in time by some lightening. She was certain that Sasuke would destroy her in an infinitely more painful way if he found out that she led his two main members of his fan club right to him.

"_Sasuke _of course."

However, her form of salvation did not come in a bolt of lightening, but the portly and balding man behind the two girls who huffed, "_Excuse me_, some of us have some shopping to do too."

Both girls glared back but said reluctantly to Hinata, "We'll see you later."

For the second time in the past thirty seconds, Hinata prayed to God. This time for a cloak of invisibility.

--

Her second encounter was just as nearly unpleasant.

She hadn't even seen the face to her customer until she had finished scanning through the last item and glanced up to give him the total price of his order. To her absolute horror, she found staring back at her the same attractive hazel eyed boy from before with that same charming grin set upon his face.

"So, you never did tell me the verdict on that date I asked you on."

"Um…" She was blushing. She was so red by now. She _had _to be. "I…I…"

"Hinata."

Turning around desperately, Hinata faced Sasuke who happened to be standing next to her till, his bucket and mop standing several feet away beside the customer service desk. "It's your break. I'll take over."

Glancing at the clock, Hinata realized that she had only been working for an hour and her scheduled free break wouldn't be for another two hours. Realizing what he was doing, a large smile broke out across her face as she nodded and resisted to urge to hug him right then and there.

"Just punch out for it." He murmured almost too quiet to hear as she darted past him, waves and waves of gratitude rushing over her as she glanced back to see him greet customers through gritted teeth.

--

Her third and final encounter had her nearly fainting and weak at the knees.

"Hey, Hinata!"

Hinata would've recognized this voice _anywhere_. Be it in school, in a crowd, or on the phone…Hinata had listened in on it enough to identify the subtle timbres of this voice.

"N-Naruto!" She squeaked and smacked her hand against the scale in her haste to grab his items off of the conveyor belt.

"I thought I'd pop by to grab some stuff while I was around the area." He leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, "Don't tell Sasuke, but usually what little grocery shopping I do, I do at that one place over beside the mall."

"Um…er…" Wanting nothing more than to slam her head repeatedly and violently against her counter to rattle herself of her stupidity, Hinata blurted out, "I love chocolate milk too!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at his order of chocolate milk and instant ramen and chuckled. "Really? Well, I'm glad to know we have so much in common!" Leaning against the counter, he glanced back to make sure he wasn't holding any customers back. Luckily, it was nine thirty in the evening and customers were few and sparse in between. "So, how's your shift going?"

"It's been long and…strange." She admitted truthfully and forced the stutter out of her voice.

"Haha, really? How so?"

So Hinata surprisingly found herself explaining and _chatting _with Naruto for the next ten minutes without once hitting an awkward spot. She was still waiting for her luck to run out until Naruto popped the question.

"So, whatcha doin' this Saturday?" He grinned at her, his smile infinitely more gorgeous than that other creep's.

"Nothing." Hinata blurted automatically, not caring if she did because, really, _it could wait_. "Nothing at all."

"Good. Excellent." He pulled out the receipt she had given him earlier from his order and handed it to her. "Because there's this party…I was wondering if you wanted to go with me." He gave a sheepish smile. "Don't think me too…uh…fresh or whatever, but you're a cool chick, Hinata, and I never see you at these things." He gave a thoughtful look towards empty space in front of him. "Which is weird."

No it wasn't. Because she _wasn't _cool.

(But who was she to argue this with Naruto?)

"So, can I have your number or something to call and give more details?"

Her heart stopped. She was sure of it. Naruto plus asking her to a party multiplied by asking for her _phone number _equated: Unreal.

Passing her a pen that was lying on the counter, he gave a friendly smile, "I promise not to text you into the wee hours of the night," (Not that she would mind. At all.) "Or just phone you for no reason and be annoying." (Oh, please do.)

Without giving it a second though, Hinata scribbled her number down quickly and nearly lost the pen in her haste.

"Cool." He grinned toothily and tore off a piece of the paper to write his own number down and hand it to her. "Here. Phone me anytime."

Hinata was sure she was still floating even as her shift ended a half hour later.


	8. Visitation From An Old Friend

**C8**

"Oh, no…" Hinata murmured, her eyes wide and horrified. Her schedule as of this coming week read a seven hour shift on the Saturday.

_Her _Saturday.

_The _Saturday.

With a determined look set upon her face, she turned on her heel and stomped down the hall and out to her till. Oh, no. This Saturday was not going to be ruined by _anything_.

--

"Um, Sasuke," Hinata murmured and lightly tapped his arm to grab his attention. "Sasuke?"

"What?" He turned around from his conversation and Sakura (which had more contribution from the other two teens, whereas Sasuke merely listened with an annoyed scowl). His eyebrow rose as he noticed who it was trying to gather his notice. "Hinata."

"H-hi." She shifted on her feet and avoided the frowning stare of Sakura. "Could you do me a f-favour, please?"

"Does she really believe he'll do something for her?" Sakura whispered in a voice much too loud to be remotely discreet to Naruto who was leaning back against the table in which she was sitting upon with a daintily crossed leg.

"What do you need?" Sasuke turned around fully, effectively blocking out a put out and mildly offended looking Sakura.

"Could you c-cover a shift for me this Saturday? Please?" She wring her hands together nervously and bit her lips as she stared down at her rain boot clad feet.

"No." He flat out refused and watched as she deflated under his stare before amending in a less prickly voice. "Really, I can't. I have something to do on Saturday too. If you phone Itachi at work though, he can see if anyone's available."

Giving a small smile up at him, she gave a quiet murmur of thanks. He really was ridiculously tall. The top of her head only reached the tip of his chin and where his broad shoulders began, hers ended. The next moment stuck with her for the rest of Hinata's small, insignificant life. It was almost in slow motion to Hinata's mind as she watched Sasuke's large hand reach up and Sakura's bright emerald eyes widen to saucers. It seemed like forever as his hand lowered down to place itself on her head…

And ruffled her hair.

For the next twenty seconds, nothing was said from anyone in the immediate vicinity as everyone gawked at Sasuke who was staring down at his hand that was still placed on her head with furrowed eyebrows and almost confused and expectant expression. Hinata was fairly sure she was hitting the first stages of shock. Sakura looked near comatose. Naruto, of course, was turned away and hacking into his hand for an ill disguised escape for his laughter.

"Yeah. So phone Itachi." He quickly snatched his hand away and shoved it into his pocket. "You can probably get the shift covered by _someone_."

Awkwardly, Hinata (who was still so pathetically stunned and unsure as what to do) brought her hand into a fist and bumped it against his arm. "Uh…s-sure? Will do." She winced at her lame attempt at a friendly gesture and bit her lip. Dear. God. No wonder her only friends were Kiba and Shino.

An awkward smile flitted briefly across his lips before returning to a scowl and glaring down at her before raising his eyebrow accusingly at her still fisted hand. "Shut up."

Grinning broadly, Hinata repeated the gesture and was still confused later as she phone Itachi at the butterflies she got as she remembered Sasuke's hand against her scalp, his awkward smile, and the envious glare Sakura had sent her.

--

"Oh, Neji!" Hinata smiled as she closed the door behind her and brushed the snow off of her hat and shoulders. Already after her first week of winter vacation the snow had fall down in almost harsh amounts, smothering everything in a thick blanket of snow. "Welcome home!"

He gave her a warm smile and entered the foyer. "Hello, Hinata." He took her coat from her and hung it up in the closet before turning to her. "So…uh…before Hanabi gets to you…"

Without warning and almost as it on cue, said little sister came sprinting into the foyer at top speed with a large twinkling grin on her face, Hanabi shrieked, "_Neji's got a girlfriend_!"

"What?" Hinata looked up at her older cousin who was currently glaring down at a grinning and altogether much too proud looking younger sister. "Who? _When_?"

"Hinata, it's been a while." A soft and friendly voice greeted from the doorframe and peeked their head into the suddenly very crowded foyer. "How're you?"

"Tenten!" Hinata shrieked and launched herself in a heartfelt bear hug. "I haven't seen you since…well, I haven't seen you in a really l-long time!" She detached herself momentarily before asking, "What are doing here? You--" She stopped for a moment to whip her head back to gape in disbelief at Neji. "_Tenten_? You're dating Tenten?"

Tenten laughed and scratched her cheek sheepishly, "Uh, yeah. I guess Neji hadn't gotten until that part yet…you're okay with it, aren't you?"

"But of course!" Hinata chirruped and smiled, "How long are you here for?"

"Monday, then Neji and I have to head back to campus." Tenten smiled and ruffled her hair, making Hinata shiver as she remembered the earlier action given by Sasuke that's effect had been much more different on her. "You wanna spend some quality time with an old friend this Saturday?"

Feeling trapped, Hinata bit her lip and shook her head slowly, "I can't this Saturday…I've got something to do?"

"'Something to do?'" Neji and Hanabi echoed together. "What?"

"I…I have a party to go to." Hinata murmured and shifted uneasily under their scrutiny and surprise. She was feeling more than a little overwhelmed with Hanabi's telltale look of soon-to-be-interogation, and Neji who mimicked that look with more concern and deliberation. Tenten, however, had a large grin splitting on her tanned face.

"For real? This is your first real one, isn't it?" Grasping her hands out of excitement, Tenten shook them vigorously and asked, "I know I'm not one to gossip about fashion and such, but please, for the love of God in such a momentous occasion tell me that you have something nice planned out to wear."

"Um, not really…" Hinata shrugged. Not a thought was really ever given to her clothing for the party…either way she was still going to be that wallflower girl nobody knew or talked to.

"Alright. New plan for the afternoon of Saturday. Wait, what time does your party start at?" Tenten inquired and let go of Hinata's fingers.

"I don't actually know," Hinata admitted and avoided looking in the direction of her relatives at all costs. "But N-Naruto said he'd pick me up at eight."

"_Naruto_?" All three chorused together, each with their own different inflections of tone, giving each of their exclamations different meanings. "You have a date with _Naruto_?"

"Oh, you are definitely going to come with me for a nice mall excursion." Tenten spoke with determination as she wrapped an arm around Hinata's shoulders. "_Definitely _coming."

Suddenly Saturday seemed so much more looming than before.

* * *

**Uh...sorry to disappoint anyone, but Attractive Hazel Eyed boy is not a character from Naruto. He is merely a tool in my plot progression.**

**Thank you and everyone, have a nice day.**


	9. you gave a shrivelled prune, not a date

**C9**

Ding.

Dong.

"_Hinata_! Hinata he's here!" Hanabi squealed as she peeked through the curtain that lie next to the door's window. "_It's him_!"

"Then open the door up, Hanabi!" Hinata said exasperatedly as she ran down the stairs.

Nodding vigorously, Hanabi complied and fumbled with the lock to pull open the door dramatically, an expectant and excited look set upon her face. Standing in the door frame, his arm raised to knock, was Naruto, blond hair, blue eyes, stunning complexion and all. "Oh, hey there, I met you at the skating rink didn't I? Sorry about running you over…"

"Hanabi." She chirped in quickly. "I'm Hanabi."

"Ha ha," He chuckled. "Hanabi. So, where might your sister—" His words died in his throat as he looked up and over at Hinata who was currently trying to wrestle her new pair of four inch leather stilletoes onto her feet. Honestly, they mildly frightened her as she tottered up finally at a nice five foot seven inches and were pointy enough that they looked like they had the capabilities of causing bodily damage and quite possibly death.

"Hi, N-Naruto." Hinata waved shyly as she stood up properly and adjusted her shirt. She never should have let Tenten persuade her into buying all of her clothes for this party. Her cowl necked shirt (which was showing _far _too much cleavage for her comfort) was both backless and prone to slipping down too far, her jeans were far tighter than any she had worn before in her life, and she was definitely sure the leather clutch in her hand was going to get lost at some point in the evening. Tenten had dragged her over to a friend of hers beauty salon earlier that day where Hinata had spent a pain staking two and a half hours having her ridiculously long and thick hair straightened to perfection and bangs so straight and across she felt like an Egyptian queen. Not to mention the mass amounts of makeup piled onto her face in such a away that it barely looked applied.

"…Wow." His eyebrows rose considerably as he ruffled the back of his hair awkwardly. "You look…you look amazing."

"Thanks," Hinata blushed and snatched her cell phone up off the small ledge next to the door before turning to Hanabi. "I'll see you later." She smiled and reached out hesitantly to ruffle her sister's hair, unsure of what her reaction to it may be.

To her surprise, Hanabi leaned further into her hand and grinned widely. "Have lots of fun and tell me everything later, okay?"

"Okay." Hinata grinned back and looked up at Naruto shyly. "Should we go now?"

"But of course!" Naruto grinned and held out an elbow for her to hesitantly clasp onto. "Let's go."

--

"I…I don't know about this…" Hinata dug her heels lightly into the ground like a frightened dog and clutched onto Naruto's sleeve tightly. Her widened eyes were staring terrified at the house before them almost shaking from the loud bass of the music.

"It'll be lots of fun!" He goaded and smiled reassuringly at her and placed a reassuring hand over hers. "'Sides, you have me." Returning his reassuring smile with one that wasn't nearly as much so, Hinata gripped his sleeve tighter and gave a small nod.

"Atta girl." He draped an arm casually around her shoulder to place a friendly peck on the crown of her head, and proceeded to leave a very stunned and red Hinata clinging to his arm blankly.

Did that just happen?

Really?

(Where were the butterflies she felt earlier around another certain member of the opposite sex?)

The first thing Hinata noticed as they entered the house with Naruto waving and grinning towards everyone he knew, and even the ones he didn't know, was: It was loud. It was very loud. There were people _everywhere_. People in the corner making out. People dancing on couches. People making out on couches. People everywhere with a drink in hand.

Just…people.

"I'll go get something for us to drink, okay?" Naruto shouted in her ear and gently pried her off of his arm. "I'll be right back."

"No! Don't—" But it was already too late, he had disappeared amongst the impossible crowd of inebriated teenagers, leaving her alone in her terror, searching for a vaguely familiar face.

Her familiar face, however, was not one she hoped to see in the near future.

"Hey! Check stand three girl!" A loud (and admittedly obnoxious) voice made its way to process in her ears.

Turning almost violently, she answered automatically (if not desperately), "Yes?"

"Hinata, right?" An arm was slung around her shoulders in a manner far too friendly for her liking. Hinata almost cringed as she recognized the hazel eyed boy next to her as the one who constantly harassed her whenever he came through her check stand.

"Whatcha doin' here?" His voice was slurred and his breath was rank with what she could determine were vodka shots by the direction he had come from. She could see a group of people loudly cheering on two boys around a coffee table as they downed the small glasses.

"Um…I-I had a date…"She murmured and squirmed away from his grasp.

"So tell me, Hinata," He asked as if her previous statement hadn't even been said. "Do you just not like coffee or something?"

"What?" She backed up against the wall conveniently located right behind her, his much larger frame caging her as he placed an arm against the wall.

His head lowered as he murmured with lips much too close to her ears. Flinching and shrinking in on herself, she reluctantly listened to his next lines, "You haven't said yes to my date yet."

"I-I really don't think—" She squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip, trying hard not to cry.

"Aw, c'mon. Just one date?"

"So this was where you went."

Peering anxiously around the boy's form, Hinata nearly cried tears of relief as she watched Sasuke's dark eyes glare back angrily at H.E.B's own ones. Slinking to the side, she almost managed an escape before HEB snarled and turned back to Hinata who stared back fearfully. "Hey, we're having a _conversation_."

"Like hell you were." With that, Sasuke snatched her arm and yanked her towards him, causing her to tumble into his firm and exceptionally inviting and comforting chest. "She rejected you. Get over it."

"Hey, fuck you, man." HEB snarled and drew himself up to the impressive height of six foot six.

"Let's go, please," Hinata whispered urgently up at Sasuke and gripped his shirt. "Now."

Giving HEB one last sneer, Sasuke took her by the elbow to get lost in the sea of jostling teenagers, though not before Hinata heard the burning exclamation of HEB's last growl, "You can't fucking shield your girlfriend forever!"

"Th-thank you so much," Hinata choked out and rubbed at her eyes to prevent from crying. This was not exactly how she had planned her first ever party to go.

"You should really start telling him to fuck off." Sasuke growled and continued to drag her through the crowd. Hinata stared down at the hand gripping her wrist and felt warmth rush all over her, a mixture of gratitude and something else she wasn't sure she wanted named at the moment.

"May-maybe." She agreed quietly.

"C'mon. You need a drink." He led her through the crowded kitchen where drinks were being poured and mixed. He took a ladle from the punch bowl and poured it into the a glass before handing it to her and taking a beer off the counter next to it.

Tentatively, Hinata took the glass and stared at it in her hands for a moment before taking a long gulp of it. Almost immediately her head felt lighter and her body tingled all around. Coughing, she stared up at Sasuke with wide eyes and asked, "Wh-what's _in _this?"

Shrugging, Sasuke opened his bottle with a skilful bite with his teeth. "Cranberry juice…7up…Malibu…"

"Malibu?" Hinata echoed and looked down at her glass and bit her lip. "Like…alcohol?"

"Yeah." He took a swig of his drink and raised an eyebrow at her. "What'd you think I meant by a drink?"

"N-nothing…" Hinata murmured and took another sip, this one considerably smaller. She didn't like the nearly ridiculing and patronizing tone in his voice.

"Listen," He grabbed her hand that was holding the glass and gently lowered it away from her mouth. "You don't have to drink if you don't want. My opinion isn't going to change of you either way."

But this was what she had wanted, wasn't it? She wanted to be one of these kids who considered getting drunk on a Saturday evening at someone who she had never met in her life's party normal, didn't she? Taking another sip and feeling the warmth that ran through her pleasantly this time, Hinata merely gave a crooked smile and shook her head. "It's okay. I-I'm fine…"

"If you say so…" Glancing at her with that damned raised eyebrow that she was far too accustomed to seeing on his face. "What are you doing here anyways?"

Hinata took another gulp, finishing her glass much quicker than she had thought and answered, "I came here with Naruto." With a pout, she looked around. "I…I don't know where he went. He was supposed to bring me a drink…" Holding out her glass expectantly, Hinata chirped, "More please!"

"_Naruto_? _You're _Naruto's date?" He took the glass and placed it on the counter next to them. "No. No more for now, unless you'd like to spend the evening in a less than pleasant mood making good acquaintances with the toilet. Wait a little bit."

Hinata snorted and let out a strangled and half crazed sounding chuckle. "Why aren't you this f-funny usually at school? Or at work?" She looked up suddenly eyes wide and worried. "Is…is it that surprising that N-Naruto would ask me to be his date?"

"No," Sasuke sighed and put his hand on the small of her back to guide their way out of the overly crowded kitchen. "I just…I thought I saw him here earlier and…never mind."

"Earlier? When—" She stopped in her tracks as her eyes happened to catch sight of the last thing she wanted to see. Sakura was sitting on a table with Naruto standing between her legs grinning as she ran a hand through his hair, his nose nuzzling her neck. He…he didn't even look the least bit guilty, instead, he looked pleased and altogether far too happy.

"Oh." Hinata murmured and leaned back into his hand that was still cupped against her back. "…That's why."

"Let's go," Sasuke tugged her back lightly by her wrist. "We don't have to--"

"Yes. We do." Hinata narrowed her eyes and tore her gaze desperately away from the two. "I…I can't keep running away."

"What're you going to do then?" He took another swig of his beer and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I…I don't know," She admitted and blushed. Of course, determination to do something was always way cooler sounding in one's head instead of in reality where the variable of 'something' was still unknown.

"Let's dance." He suggested and shrugged as if the idea had little interest to him either way.

Hinata looked around the living room where groups of people were grinding against one another to no particular rhythm, neither changing pace when a song changed from loud and fast paced, or loud and slow. Biting her lip for what felt like the hundredth time that night, Hinata admitted almost too quiet for Sasuke to hear in the noise of the room, "I don't know how to."

"It's really not all that particularly difficult," With the beer still in hand, he lightly held both of her wrists and brought them up around his neck so her arms looped closely around him. "And really, uh, you just move." His leg stood between hers, with her hips pressed together against his. Burying her head deep into the crook of his neck, Hinata felt the burn of a harsh blush leak across her body. For some reason, this whole ordeal felt humiliating. And degrading.

And exhilarating.

His body was altogether too close to be considered remotely appropriate, and in all honestly, Hinata felt like a tart dancing like this. But the heat from his body and breath against her ear made her shiver and tingle in a way that she wasn't sure had to do with the alcohol.

"Sasuke, Sasuke." Hinata suddenly chanted urgently and began pulling lightly on the back of his shirt collar. "Sasuke…" She rubbed her cheek against the fabric on his shoulder.

"What?" He glanced down at her and looked like he was about to smile. But that wasn't possible. This was _Sasuke_.

"Don't laugh at meeeeeee." Hinata whined and hid her head from him again before nuzzling his shirt and laughing. "Ha ha, your shirt's really soft." She shot her head up seriously and blinked. "Sasuke, Sasuke you're…you're _vibrating_."

"What? – Shit." He smoothly removed her arms from around him and reached into his pocket to bring out his cell phone. "It's Kakashi, I have to take this."

"Don't leave me, please." Hinata clutched onto his hand tightly and hid her face in his open palm. "I don't want…I don't want that kid to see me again."

Sighing, Sasuke put down his drink and used his other hand to lightly place on place on her cheek as he shifted the one Hinata was holding to the other cheek so his large hands overwhelmed and cupped her face. "I'll be back. But I have to take this, okay?" He wrinkled his eyebrows together. "You've only had one glass and you're definitely a bit past tipsy. Don't do something dumb while I'm gone, okay?"

"I'm not tipsy! I feel fine!" Hinata insisted and leaned into his hands. "Don't…don't let him find me, okay?"

"Okay." Sasuke sighed and let go of her, careful to make sure she didn't fall. "I'll be right back." He reassured her before heading in the direction of the back door, cell phone at the ready to dial.

Hinata watched him go with a worried expression and bit her lip. Now she was all alone and Naruto was probably off making out with Sakura.

She needed to find another drink.

* * *

**Garhararrar...that's the first cliffhanger I've written for this story yet.**

**You better be freaaaking grateful.**


	10. five drinks one drunk

**A/N: Uh...yeah. Just a bit of warning, lots of profanity and a hint of citrus in this chapter. That is all.****C10**

* * *

"Sasuke! Saaaasuke!"

Cell phone still in hand since when she had last saw him leave ten minutes ago, his dark eyes turned in her direction in response to the calling of his name. Walking over with an incredulous look on his face, he pushed his way through the crowd of people and demanded, "What the hell are you doing?"

"I…I…" She burped loudly and giggled, holding up her shot glass. "I'm doing _vodka _shots." Swirling what little liquid was in it, she jerked her arms in front of her at the boy sitting across the low coffee table from her, a look of determination set upon his face. In a whisper that was much too loud, Hinata pulled Sasuke down by the hand to sit on the floor clumsily next to her and hissed, "I'm beating him."

"Fuck, Hinata, I told you not to do anything stupid. It's been, what, ten minutes since I've left?" Sasuke growled and tried reaching for the glass in her hand.

"Stop it! Get your own drink!" Hinata whined and pulled away. "I'm _winning_, I never…I never win at anything!"

"Drink! Drink! Drink!" The crowd around them cheered, egging on both the highly inebriated teenagers.

"Okay!" Hinata chirped and downed the drink in one go, reaching across the table to grab the bottle of vodka from the boy who was spluttering and groaning quietly. "Next one!" She poured herself far too much into the small glass unsteadily, raising the glass, ready to toss it back.

"No." Sasuke reprimanded and removed the glass swiftly from her hand. "How many have you had?"

"_Sasuke_!" Hinata moaned and threw herself at him in an attempt to snatch the glass from him. "Sasuke, I want it baaaack!" She climbed into his lap and leaned across him, her chest placed flat against his as her arm extended to try and take the glass back.

"How many have you had?" Sasuke demanded again, this time his voice sterner.

"That was…that was _five_. I think." Her look of desperation dropped to one of confused contemplation.

"You're going to be so fucked in the morning." With that, he stretched his neck back and downed the vodka quickly, coughing lightly as he put back down the glass. "Now you can't have it."

"Sasuke!" Hinata gasped, horrified. "Sasuke, now I have to face you? That's…that's not fair! I have…no you have…wait, who has the--the head start here?"

"No. You're not facing anyone in any drinking games." Sasuke pulled her up onto her feet and began walking her away from the table. "Let's go."

"Hey! Asshole! What're you doing?" The boy who had been her opponent slurred with closed angry eyes and slammed his glass on the table. "I…I was beating…her. I was having a contest."

"Shut the fuck up." Sasuke snarled and continued to guide a stumbling Hinata away.

"Sasuke…it's so loud…" Hinata moaned and pressed her face into his shoulder. "I think--I think I'm going deaf…"

"You're not going deaf." Sasuke sighed and pulled her up by the waist so as to stop her from collapsing. "I told you not to drink so fast…doing shots of vodka was probably exactly opposite of what I asked of you."

"I'm sorry, Sasuke." Hinata apologized. "I'm really sorry. I'm sorry that I did that. Please--please don't be mad at me." She whimpered into his shoulder again, "It's really loud."

"Well, c'mon. We'll find you somewhere quieter." He led them up the stairs with only slight difficulties on Hinata's behalf into a large and roomy bedroom. It seemed comfortable and homey, a vanity mirror set to one side next to a wide window, a door to what must've been the ensuite bathroom to the other side, a large king sized against the wall, two very drunk teenagers with their shirts off making out on top of the comforter…

"Get out." Sasuke snarled at the two who jerked up and fell off the bed awkwardly.

"What the hell--" One of them slurred before eyes widening to large saucer sizes. "Shit. C'mon," He yanked the rag doll of a girl up by her elbow. "It's Sasuke Uchiha. He almost killed that one kid, Naruto before." He hissed the last part and practically tossed the girl out, him following closely behind.

"Ahaha, that guy's being--he's being _silly_." Hinata giggled and wrapped her arms around a suddenly stiffened Sasuke. "You'd never kill Naruto. He's your best friend."

"At one point he wasn't." Sasuke pointed out mildly and led her over to gently place her down on the bed. "You okay?"

Hinata giggled again and threw her arms once more around his waist this time, causing Sasuke to fall forwards over top of her, his body weight nearly crushing her. "Those guys almost had _sex_." She looked up solemnly at Sasuke and wriggled beneath him in order to get some breathing space. "Have you had sex before, Sasuke?"

"Don't--don't do that." Sasuke hissed and pressed one hand down against her hip to keep her still, and used the other to prop himself up with his elbow. "And I'm not telling you the answer to that."

"But we're _friends_!" Hinata insisted and tightened her hug around his waist. "We're not best friends. I promised that we wouldn't be after all. And friends tell--they tell each other stuff!"

"Hinata," Sasuke groaned and closed his eyes. "Fine. You tell me something, and I'll tell you, okay?"

"Okay." Hinata grinned and chirped. "I've never gone anywhere with anyone! Like…first base…second base…homerun…I don't think I've even--even made it up to bat!" Her eyes grew huge as she nodded vigorously. "Really. I've never ever ever _ever _kissed a boy before."

"Really now?" He asked wryly and chuckled.

"Don't laaaugh." Hinata moaned and grabbed the front of his shirt to cover her face. "I've never kissed a boy…" She looked up and cocked her head. "How do you kiss?"

"What?" He asked slightly startled.

"Like…what's the…the _technique _to it? In theory, you just…uh…you just press your lips together, right? But…but you don't--you don't actually pucker, do you?" She demonstrated by doing just that, and really, only ending up looking like a desperate fish.

"Uh, I don't know." Sasuke shrugged uncomfortably. "I guess….you sorta tilt your head--usually to the right--so your noses don't bump, and sorta…latch onto their top or bottom lip? Fuck." He scratched the back of his neck and dropped his head. "This is weird, Hinata. I don't know how to explain it."

"Shooow me!" Hinata insisted and tugged on his shirt, stretching it out probably beyond repair. "Show me how! We're friends, right? So it doesn't…it doesn't even matter." She determined resolutely.

"Hinata," Sasuke pleaded as she reached up to cup his face in her hands. "Listen, you are insanely drunk. I really don't think that this is a good idea. At all. I'm a little tipsy too, and by god neither of us will forgive me in the morning if I take advantage of you."

"No, no!" She insisted and pulled him close enough by the face that he could taste the vodka in her breath in the air he breathed. "Come on! I'm seventeen and…and I've never been kissed before! And that's _suuuper _pathetic." She murmured quietly almost as an after thought, "Please?"

With a look of extreme uncertainty on his face, Sasuke nodded and murmured, "Fine." Angling his head to the right, he continued to kiss her in exactly the same way as he told her how. The tingles that were sent all the way down to her toes made her gasp against his mouth and arch up beneath him, her fingers digging into his cheeks.

"Okay, that's done." Sasuke panted and pressed his face against her neck. "…That's done."

"Noooo," Hinata moaned and tugged lightly at his head. "Moooore…."

"Hinata, I can't--"

"Is it because I'm not pretty like…like Sakura?" She bit her lip and knitted her eyebrows together. "I'm sorry. I just made you kiss an ugly--an ugly girl. I made you kiss an ugly bad kisser. You were really good. You're a _really _good kisser." She whispered conspiratorially.

"Hinata, let's get one thing straight." He propped himself up on both elbows and stared down at her seriously. "Sakura's hot, yes. But tonight you look…you look really gorgeous, okay? Not that I'm saying you aren't usually…but you look especially…pretty tonight. Also, for your first ever kiss, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you definitely weren't bad."

"Sasuke!" Hinata giggled and flung her arms around his neck, pulling him back down with an "Oof." and squealed, "Sasuke, you're so silly and you're so nice and I'm really glad that you're my friend and you were my first kiss! Can we keep doing it now? I mean…I mean that can't be _all _there is to kissing."

"Well, of course not…that's just sorta…uh, the bare basics."

"Teach me more!" Hinata insisted and snatched his collar to bring his face towards hers in another kiss. Curiously, she lightly bit his bottom lip and scraped her teeth against it, earning a groan from Sasuke that made her stomach feel like liquid. Licking her lips, Hinata murmured, "That was okay? I'm sorta--I'm sorta…_adlibbing _here."

"That was--that was good." He buried his head into her floral scented hair. "But Hinata, you're going to regret this. You're going to regret kissing your supervisor at work, you're going to regret kissing that asshole kid at school, and you're really going to regret kissing your friend like this. If you regret this, _I'm _going to regret this."

"Ha ha, don't be silly, Sasuke!" She threaded her fingers through his hair. "I've never kissed Obito, or--or Sai, or Kiba, or Shino!" She blinked at his wry smile before murmuring. "Oh. You meant _yourself_. But…but people kiss their bosses all the time, right? And…and you're definitely _not _an asshole, you're one of the nicest people I know! You give me…you give me rides at night _all _the time! And--and it's even better that you're my friend!"

"I don't know if I honestly want to fight this anymore." Sasuke admitted in defeat and began trailing kisses from the bottom of her neck, giving the occasional nibble and lick.

"Ah," She gasped and squirmed. She felt like she was on fire. Just as Sasuke began biting her earlobe, she gave a low moan of appreciation. "Sas…Sasuke…you're a really…you're a really great teacher. I wanna try."

"Try what--_oh_." He hissed as she nipped at his jawbone and licked her way down his throat, pausing to only to lightly bite his Adam's apple. He groaned and fisted her hair, pulling her back up for a kiss much more intense and heated than any one initiated thus far. When it got to the point where he had parted her lips with surprising gentleness and swept his tongue through her mouth, Hinata clutched at him almost desperately and scraped her fingernails down his back.

"Don't, just don't" He panted between kisses. "Don't let me get too," He bit back another groan as Hinata tugged at his lip again with her teeth. "Too carried away."

"How carried away is carried away?" She asked almost innocently and leaned up against him to bring herself back to his mouth.

"_Hinata_--"

Both were startled and nearly fell off the bed as the door slammed open, revealing another pair of drunk looking teenagers and leaving both of them with a backwards sense of déjà vu. Wiping the back of her mouth and peeking over Sasuke shoulder, Hinata chimed, "Who's--who's there?"

"Hey, get out--_Hinata_?" Naruto blinked in surprise and almost dropped the swaying Sakura clinging to him in his surprise. "What are you…"

"Oh…Naruto…" She sunk back behind Sasuke's shoulder and murmured into his neck, "Make him go _awaaaay_."

"Hey, fuck off, Naruto." Sasuke snarled and raised himself off of Hinata, pulling her up too so that she was still sheltered against his chest. Gratefully, Hinata leaned her weight against him and clutched the side of his shirt with fisted hands.

"What the hell, Sasuke? You're taking advantage of an obviously drunk girl? A drunk Hinata? That's low." Naruto snapped back and wrapped both arms around Sakura's waist as she mumbled incoherently into his chest. "She's a good girl, she doesn't deserve that."

"What the fuck? _I'm _taking advantage of a drunk girl? What the hell are _you _doing then?" Sasuke yelled back and waved an arm at the nearly passed out pink haired girl in Naruto's arms.

"I'm not taking advantage of her! She said her head was hurting, so I tried bringing her somewhere quiet--"

"Shuuut up, Naruto." Hinata moaned and glared at him, tearing her head away from Sasuke's exceptionally warm and comforting chest. "_I'm _taking advantage…advantage of Sasuke. He's my best friend." Slapping a hand on her mouth, Hinata shook her head vigorously. "I lied! I lied! He's--he's not my best friend!" She turned to Sasuke ( who was still glaring daggers at Naruto) and whispered urgently. "I promise I'm not your best friend! I promise! And I'm _not _drunk. I only had…had six…no…five. I only had…I only had five." She glared back at Naruto.

"I really don't think--" Naruto began again before getting cut off once more by an angry Hinata.

"_No_. You're an _asshole_. I don't have to…have to listen to you!" She flung a finger out accusingly at Naruto, almost stabbing Sasuke in the throat in the process. "You were supposed to be my date, but then you went off to--to make out with _Sakura _and left me to almost--I think I was almost--almost raped by check stand boy!"

"What? Hinata--oh." Naruto shrunk back slightly and looked at her with almost…_pity_. "Hinata…I only meant for you to be a friendly date…I'm sorry if I came off different, but--"

"No, fuck _you_." Hinata drawled and got up unsteadily off the bed and stumbled over to him to grip his face with one hand. "You better…you better fuck off, because _I_--I _hate _you."

"Don't--"

"Fuuuuck off. Fuck off. Fuck ooooff." Hinata chanted and began pushing him out. "Go have sex with…with your drunk girlfriend somewhere _else_." With that, she slammed the door with a dramatic spin before grinning at Sasuke. "I've…I've never said fuck that many times in my life before! I…I don't think…I don't think I've _ever _said fuck! Are you proud?" She smiled up expectantly.

Getting off the bed with much more grace that Hinata did, Sasuke ruffled her hair and gave a half grin back. "That was…really badass. I am proud."

"Yay." She grinned and looped her arms around him for a hug before whispering, "I think…I think I might have been telling the truth about being best friends…you…you're really great." With out warning, she slipped out of his arms and fell onto the floor onto her hands and knees, groaning lowly.

"Shit. Hinata, are you okay?" He crouched down immediately beside her and lifted her bangs to peer at her agony filled eyes.

"My stomach…" She groaned and clutched at it desperately.

"Fuck. Bathroom. Now." He pulled her up and dragged her quickly to the connected bathroom where Hinata barely made it to the toilet to vomit loudly into the bowl.

"Sasuke…" She moaned and looked up momentarily. "Sasuke, I think…I think I'm drunk."

Gathering her long hair back up in his hands, Sasuke merely sighed and agreed, "Yeah. I think you are too."

"I don't like it." She whined and retched yet again into the bowl, flinging one arm around the seat and the other clutched her stomach. "My face…my face…is near ass."

Unable to contain it, Sasuke gave a dry laugh and patted her back soothingly. "I know. It sucks. A lot. But if you fucking listened to me earlier, you wouldn't have to be here."

"Sorry." She mumbled and lifted a strand of hair that had chunks of vomit clinging onto it away from her face. "Hey…hey, Sasuke?"

"Yeah?" He glanced up at the counter next to them and snatched the stray hair elastic lying there to tie up Hinata's hair clumsily with.

"You…you never answered…answered my question. Have you had…sex before?" She gratefully leaned against the bowl for support feeling the nausea and pain rush over her like a drowning wave.

"You want to know this _now_?"

"Yeah…yeah…" She nodded sleepily before diving back into the toilet for another round of what looked to be bile this time.

"Fuck. Yes. Twice. Once when I was drunker than you are now with a girl I don't even remember, and another time when I went to a conference with Itachi and there was some woman at least twenty years older than me who was a way better teacher than I was for you. Happy?" He asked and pushed the bangs away from her face.

"No…" She replied back in a groan.

"Well, neither am I." He snorted and leaned back against the bathtub.

"Sasuke," She lifted the hair from her face and blinked blearily. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry for doing really…being really dumb tonight."

With an almost pained expression, Sasuke sighed and lifted his head up to stare at the ceiling, murmuring. "Me too."


	11. a walk, a trek, a confession

**C11**

"C'mon." Sasuke sighed and finally grasped her arm, slinging it across her shoulder and standing up with her dangling off of him loosely.

"No…" Hinata moaned and clutched tightly at his shirt. "I'll…I…I haven't finished…with Mr. Toilet…"

"You need to get home." Sasuke insisted and continued dragging her out of the bathroom towards the bedroom again, carefully avoiding any gaze with the bed. "I'm guessing you told some lie to your parents as to where you're going and even have a curfew."

"I don't though," Hinata murmured and leaned into him further as she staggered towards the stairs. "My father…my father's rarely at home…it's usually only…only my sister and…and me…Neji knows where I am…oh." She looked up at Sasuke seriously, her eyebrows knitted together in concentration. "You're right! I…I do have a curfew…Neji said…midnight…"

"Let's go then," He helped her down the stairs, back into the rowdy and altogether far too loud downstairs where Hinata hid her face into his neck, inhaling his comforting scent deeply. "It really is…is loud…"

"I know. I'll walk you home." He ignored the stares being sent their way as not-so-hushed whispers were being tossed back and forth between each other like a tennis ball as people pointed at Hinata's clearly inebriated body hanging off of Sasuke for support. "Do you have everything?" He asked and waited as she clumsily tried putting on her stilettos.

"I'm…I'm glad I put my c-cell phone into my bra." Hinata reached up to feel her breasts, grabbing them reassuringly and patting them down until she felt the square outline press against her hands through the silky fabric of her shirt and bra. "I _definitely _would've l-lost it otherwise…" She gave a frustrated cry and kicked her shoes at the wall and bit her lip desperately. "This…this isn't g-going to work in…in the state I'm in, is it?"

"Probably not," Sasuke sighed and picked them up. "I'm sure you can manage to walk barefoot."

"Okay…" Hinata nodded and clutched his arm close to her chest. "L-let's go…" Rubbing her cheek against the warm appendage, she murmured, "You're really…nice."

Snatching a thick coat off of the wall, he slung it around his shoulders and guided the woozy and disoriented Hinata out the door where she stumbled down the porch step. "Whoops." She muttered and straightened up suddenly and stumbled further down the driveway. "I can--I can pass for s-sober, right?" Her steps were all over the place as she attempted to walk in a straight line, her arms spread wide for what little balance it provided.

"No. Not right." Sasuke grabbed her hand and pulled her down the driveway to the sidewalk where he stuffed her hand into his coat pocket. "Why the fuck didn't you bring a coat? It's December for fuck's sake."

"Naruto g-gave me a ride here…he was supposed to give me o-one _back_." Hinata drawled and wrapped her arm around his waist to fit her other hand into his other pocket. "But…but…him and Sakura…"

"Right." He quickly cut her off and attempted to shrug off his coat. "Put this on."

"_No_," She shook her head vigorously and held onto him tighter. "You…you're gonna get cold, and then I'll be--be the one whose fault it was and th-then I'll--_I'll _feel terrible because you're my…my…" Her eyes widened suddenly as she flung herself away from him to collapse onto her knees on the pavement and continue to vomit onto the side of the curb with loud and painful retching noises.

"Sasuke…Sasuke…I _hate _this." She moaned and sobbed as she pushed her hair out of her face. "This was…this was supposed to be a _good _night. Naruto asked m-me out to a _party_. I've never been to a party and…and…I'm the _loser _girl. I'm the _w-weird _girl." She hiccupped and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before looking up at Sasuke's looming form. "But…but…all of Tenten's hard work t-to make me look pretty is wasted right now…and I feel like…like _shit _and Naruto's probably having d-drunk sex with Sakura…and I…I made you make out with me!"

Crouching down next to her, Sasuke carefully gathered her close to his chest hesitantly and let her cry heaving sobs into his neck as she clutched back onto the front of his shirt desperately. In a voice Hinata had never expected to be so comforting and soft, Sasuke said quietly, "Hey, don't let the fact that Naruto's a dick make your self esteem drop like this. You looked fucking fantastic this evening, and even if you're the 'weird girl', I think that you're my favourite person at school and even when you don't dress up like tonight you look pretty."

"Sasuke…Sasuke…" She cried against his neck and flung her arms around him tightly, "Sasuke…y-you're not an asshole…or a j-jackass, or a dick, or wh-whatever anyone else says. Y-you're so great…" She pressed a clumsy kiss against his jaw. "I'm so glad that…that you could come and s-save me tonight."

"Alright," He said awkwardly and attempted to stand them up while still entangled together. "You need food in you. There's a McDonalds about a block from here." He gently removed her arms from around him, and before she could say anything, quickly shrugged his coat off and draped it around her shoulder. "No give backs."

"Haha," She giggled and snuggled into the warmth of her coat. "You made a f-funny…" She brought the collar up to her face and inhaled deeply. "Y-you're the best smelling person I know, Sasuke."

He rolled his eyes and placed an arm around her shoulder for her to support herself against him. "Let's get walking."

"Okay." She murmured and leaned against him.

The walk in her bare feet all the way to the McDonalds proved to be more difficult than originally either of them had thought and resulted in her limping up to the glass doors of the restaurant in her stilettos Sasuke had carried thus far.

"I can't…c-can't feel my feet." She hissed to him in a slurred whisper.

"I know, I know, but you can't go in barefoot." Sasuke held open the door for her as she stood stalk still, staring into the fast food joint with wide doe eyes. "Well?" Sasuke waved his hand exasperatedly towards the entrance way he was holding open for her.

"I--I can't go in there." She shook her head furiously and pulled him back away from the door desperately. "Kiba and…and Shino are in there!" She groaned and leaned her head against the dirty wall. "I c-can't let them see me like this…" She clutched at her stomach and looked up at Sasuke though her bangs pleadingly. "I…I think I'm g-going to throw up again."

Holding back a frustrated groan, Sasuke picked her up by her elbow and began dragging her to the drive thru window where he demanded to the surprise window cashier with a growl, "Two Big Macs."

"Hey, this is only for cars, you can't--"

"Do you want her to throw up all over you right now?" Sasuke snarled and jerked Hinata in front of him where she leaned against the window blearily and smiled. "I…I know you! Y-you're in my bio class!"

The kid at the window blinked before exclaiming, "Holy shit! _Sasuke Uchiha_? And…and…sorry, I don't really know your name actually…" He gave a disbelieving glance at the two of them as Hinata's face broke out into a big grin.

"That's okay, nobody--nobody knows _my _name." She leaned over the window where she patted his arm reassuringly. "But it's H-Hinata!"

"Okay…"

"Just fucking put in the order!" Sasuke snapped and pulled Hinata back to his chest where she sighed and closed her eyes sleepily.

"Yes sir." The boy at the window snapped back sarcastically and asked, "Eight ninety-three."

Fishing out a ten dollar bill from his pocket, Sasuke slammed it onto the window and grumbled, "Keep the change." as he tried ushering her towards the next window to receive their order. Just as they were leaving and Hinata turned around to thank the boy, the small drifting of mutterings were caught as he placed the crumpled into the register with a slam to shut it.

"Asshole."

An inexplicable anger flooded through Hinata as she jerked herself off of Sasuke and stormed over to the window, an angry and accusing finger pointed at his chest. "Take that back!"

"What?" A stunned and baffled expression was spread across his face as he looked back and forth between her finger and her angry face.

"Take back what you said about Sasuke being--being an asshole!" She shrieked and leaned her head into the window. "Sasuke's th-the nicest guy I know! You f-fucking take back what you said! He doesn't deserve your j-jackass attitude!"

"Let it go, Hinata." Sasuke reached for her waist and pulled her back. "Let it go."

"You're not an asshole." She sobbed into his shoulder. Looking up at the confused cashier through angry and narrowed eyes, she yelled, "You're the fuck--fucking asshole!"

"I'm a terrible influence on you," Sasuke sighed and quickly with long strides brought her over to the drive thru pick up to snatch the brown paper bag containing their hamburgers, then proceeded to walk her a little while a way to sit down on the curb. Passing her a hamburger, he insisted, "Eat it."

"No…" She shook her head violently and pushed it away. "My stomach st-still feels bad…"

"If you don't manage to keep it down, you're going to start vomiting bile, and then you're going to start vomiting blood from alcohol poisoning. This will help soak up a little bit of the alcohol, okay?" He pushed the hamburger forcefully into her palm and closed her fingers around it. "Eat it."

"F-fine." She took a hesitant bite out of it before gagging and forcing it down. The process continued several times before she finally managed to scarf it all down long before Sasuke finished his own. There was a pregnant silence filled only with Hinata's tiny whimpers as she curled into herself and wrapped her arms around her drawn up legs.

"What h-happened to your car?" She asked and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Why--why are we walking?"

Shrugging, he finished the last of his burger and licked his fingers clean. "I was planning on getting drunk and getting Itachi to pick me up." Looking down at her guilty face, he quickly amended, "It's fine. Something really stupid always happens when I'm drunk, anyways. It's _fine_."

"I'm sorry, S-Sasuke." She whispered quietly and fiddled with the long sleeves of his coat.

"Don't…just don't be." He stood the both of them up and brushed himself off. "I don't know where you got this concept that you're so…worthless." Straightening her up as she stumbled a step forwards, he ran the tips of his fingers against her cheek. "Just because you're not…popular like Sakura or have that same sort of beauty…don't let it affect your self esteem like this, okay?"

Looking up from her fingers, she lightly grasped the front of his shirt and began playing with the creases of that and said, "I…I think I want to kiss you again." She looked up at him, confusion and almost desperation clouded her face. "I know I sh-shouldn't…but I really--really want to."

Without warning, a loud honk blasted the quiet night air that was followed by an obnoxious, "Get a room!" The jeering teenagers laughed and sped off past into the drive thru where their loud guffaws could still be heard.

Swearing violently, Sasuke turned his gaze back down to Hinata's wobbling legs. Turning around, he beckoned to her with a wave of his hand. "Climb on. You're not going to be able to walk the rest of the way."

"A--a piggyback ride?" She asked incredulously. "I'm too--too heavy."

"I find that really doubtful. Now just get on." He snapped and bent over to allow her to clumsily jump on and wrap her limbs around his neck and waist.

"I haven't h-had a piggyback since I was _seven_." She giggled and squirmed against him. "Th-thank you."

"Don't mention it." He grumbled and began the journey back to Hinata's home.

--

"We're here now." He sighed and adjusted her against his back. "Do you need me to walk you to the door?"

"Sasuke…Sasuke thank you." Hinata smiled against his neck. "Thank…you."

"It's fine." He firmly said and took her gratitude as a yes to his previous question. He only made it two steps further before she began shouting desperately.

"No! No, Sasuke, stop!" She moaned and pulled at his shirt desperately. "Sasuke! Sasuke, drop me!"

"What--"

"Just drop me!" She insisted, her decibel level nearly reaching a shriek. Startled, Sasuke did so and was nearly knocked over as she pushed herself over to the hedge and retched all over the dirt at its roots. Looking over her shoulder wretchedly, she wiped the back of her mouth and said, "The…the burger did sorta help…"

"You're really on and off with this throwing up thing, aren't you?" He pulled her up and brought her to her doorstep, waiting for her to withdraw her key.

As she fumbled through the pockets of her jeans, she bit her lip and blurted out. "I'm really happy you were…were here tonight!" She flung her arms around him in a tight hug and felt elation course through her as he hesitantly returned it with firm arms wrapping around her too. Shyly, she looked up and apologized quietly, "I'm really s-sorry I made you make--make out with me."

"Wanna know a secret?" He murmured and held her closer to his chilled body.

"Yes!"

"Even if it'll make you hate me?" He insisted and pressed his nose against the hair at the top of her head.

"I could n-never hate you."

"I was very much sober." He whispered lowly against her ear. "A single beer is not going to get me drunk enough to lose all inhibition or even just get me tipsy. _I _took advantage of _you_."

With a gaping mouth, she glanced up at him. His eyebrows were drawn together in worry and his lips were drawn into a thin line. Altogether he looked almost…distraught. When nothing was said from her, he turned his head and dropped his arms from around her then stepped down off the porch. "I should go now--"

Placing both hands on the side of his face, she placed a hard kiss against his surprised and open mouth before stumbling back and jamming the key into the lock and twisting it open.

Just before she closed the door behind her, she peeked her head around it and murmured, "I don't hate you."


	12. I regret, and now I pay

**C12**

Hinata was fairly sure as soon as she woke up that the elephants storming across the space of her skull were going to crush it.

She was fairly sure that the light leaking through her window's curtains were going to blind her.

And she was definitely sure this was hell.

"_Good morning_!" A voice much too cheerful and shrill for--Hinata glanced over at her alarm clock next to her on the bedside table--nine o'clock chirped and slammed open the bedroom door with a flourish. Skipping up and sitting down on the edge of her bed, Tenten leaned forwards with deep interest, a large Cheshire grin set upon her fair face as she asked, "So…I guess last night went pretty well, eh?"

"No…Tenten…" Hinata moaned and rolled over, bringing the comforter over her head to burry deep beneath its covers. "Loud…bright…_you_…I'm _dying_…"

"Ah, right. I figured." She produced a bottle from her jacket pocket as well as a bottle of water, both of which she placed on her bedside table. "Advil. Lots of it." When Hinata merely grunted and made no move towards to proffered drugs, Tenten stretched across the large queen sized bed and solicitously peered up through eyelashes under the pretences of examining her short fingernails. "So."

"If I give you any info, will you leave me to crawl under my c-covers and _die_?" Hinata groaned and sat up to pop back two Advils and wash back with a swig of water.

"But of course!" Tenten grinned and sat up cross legged on the bed, nearly bouncing herself right off. "Do tell." An arched eyebrow was raised as she rested her head in her palm. "So things went well with Naruto last night, hm?"

"Why w-would you say that?" Hinata rubbed her eye drowsily. The elephants were still raging as violently as before and she was wondering where those sunglasses she had put away for winter had disappeared to.

"We found you collapsed on the couch passed out at midnight when Neji came to check if you had come back yet. He was pretty worked up about this whole thing." A sheepish grin formed on her face as she recalled the memory. "Anyways. We tried bringing you upstairs and taking off the jacket you were wearing, but you kept whining and yelling that it smelled fantastic and you just refused to take it off." Wriggling her eyebrows, she giggled. "I noticed that the jacket was noticeably a _male _style. What _did _you do with Naruto last night?"

"I…I didn't do anything w-with Naruto…Sasuke…" She abruptly stopped, slapped a hand to her mouth and looked at Tenten with horror.

Sasuke.

Every memory of last night came flooding back to her in a rush. Naruto's abandonment, HEB's drunk advancements, Sasuke's heroic rescue, the dancing, the vodka shots, the kissing, and the vomit.

The kissing.

Her face turned a ferocious red colour as she leapt out of bed, pushing Tenten out of her room. "Can't talk now! Elephants--t-too much stomping! Gotta f-find my sunglasses!"

"What the hell? Did you end up doing something other than drinking? Because really, weed is one thing, but shrooms? That's bad news--"

"Bye!" Hinata hissed and gave one last final shove to get Tenten out the door before slamming it shut behind her and sliding down ungracefully to the floor. She stared down at her outstretched arms which were clothed in the comfortable fabric of his jacket. Hesitantly, she grasped the collar of it and brought it up to her face to inhale softly. It did smell fantastic. It smelt like Sasuke…

Oh, Sasuke.

Hiding her face behind her hands, she bit her lip and let all the details sink in of last night. She kissed him. She made out with Sasuke. She made out with her boss. She made out with her _friend_.

Who was a damn good kisser.

She slapped a hand over her mouth and felt her cheeks boil. She was _not _allowed to think of these things. Not at all. Just the thought of thinking about it made her stomach flop and simmer mercilessly…the way he had held her, and _talked _to her, and made her feel, and--

_Stop_.

Choking back a sob, she recalled her last words she had said to him before she had found the first soft thing to pass out on.

"_I don't hate you_."

And she didn't.

She should've, she knew. She should've been ashamed of him and furious that he had taken advantage of her overly drunk state, that he had known normally she would've done nothing of the sort and went ahead and _kissed her like that_.

But…she couldn't. She couldn't do it for some reason. Probably because she desperately wanted someone to feel that way about her…to want to kiss her like he did…to tell her all those comforting things that he did…

But this was Sasuke. Sasuke. Sasuke, the demi-god from school, Sasuke who only girls like Sakura had a chance with, not Hinata. _Not _the shy wallflower weirdo.

This time, she let the tears fall as she realized one thing. He must've been lying to her. He must've been trying to spare her feelings. And he must've been at least some what drunk after taking that vodka shot for her. Her room was filled with her constant hiccups and sobs as one last thing clicked into place.

It shouldn't have hurt this much if she only thought of Sasuke as a friend.

--

"Hinata!" Kiba crowed and threw his arms around her in a bear hug. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!" Sitting back down and tossing his backpack on the seat next to him onto the floor, he eagerly invited her to sit down next to him with a large grin set upon his face.

"Thanks," She whispered and placed her lunch tray on the table. It _had _been ages since she had seen him.

"How was your weekend?" He asked as he stuffed a fry into his mouth. It almost broke her heart that he was acting completely normal. As if she hadn't hung out with him and Shino for the past two and some weeks.

"It was f-fine." She gave him a small smile and bit her lip before chancing the same smile to Shino who returned it with a faint nod of his head. Feeling relief, she allowed her smile to grow slightly and asked in return, "And yours?"

"_Fucking fantastic_!" Kiba exclaimed and pumped a fist out for Shino to bump, to which he only raised an eyebrow at and picked up his sandwich to delicately bite into. Recovering from the momentarily awkward moment, he turned back to Hinata, his enthusiasm back within seconds. "We totally crashed this one party Ino was holding. We got super wasted--well, I did. This kid's a fucking tank."

Shino merely shrugged modestly and took another bite from his sandwich.

"Anyways." Kiba turned back to her and continued. "Point of this whole story is: Ino got wasted and took off her shirt, I made it to second base with her. With Ino. Possibly the hottest chick in school. _Me_." His eyes took on a glazed look as he recalled the memory almost wistfully. "Totally could've made it all the way with her if her huge ass boyfriend hadn't come in threatening to break my spine in half." He shivered at this and scarfed down another fry. "He could've done it too, I'm pretty sure."

"I say you would've deserved it too, almost getting into the pants of the girlfriend of another guy." Shino pointed out mildly and tossed the crumpled up ball of Saran wrap which had held his sandwich into a garbage can a few feet away.

"Hey, shut up, Shino. You're ruining my story." Kiba whined and chucked a fry at his friend who merely glared back and flicked said fry off his shoulder. "So, after that we went to McDonald's and got some food--" He glanced down at Hinata's pale face in alarm and quickly amended. "Sorry, Hinata, I know that you don't approve of us doing this sort of stuff!" He wrapped an arm around her consolingly.

Hardly even close to the point, Hinata felt sick as she recalled her own night's activities which were starting to sound eerily similar to the ones Kiba was telling her about.

"But that's why we love you!" He crowed and ruffled her hair. "Because you're our sweet, innocent good girl!"

Sweet.

Innocent.

Good.

But, of course.

--

The next three days had been spent doing three things: avoiding all contact with Sasuke, ignoring the whispers and gossip about her activities that went on at what happened to be a girl named Karin's house, and avoiding all contact with Sasuke.

Her first real attempt to escape from him had been in her biology class.

No longer did she sit right behind Naruto (partly because every time she stared even at the back of his head, she got a sickly feeling of embarrassment and disgust, but mostly because she could no longer see Sasuke's eyes boring into her. However, she could feel it nearly as well as she could've seen it), but in the window seat next to a chubby boy named Chouji. Which was perfectly fine with her considering Chouji turned out to be an extremely nice boy who almost always offered her one of his ever-present chips.

However, such Sasuke-less bliss was not meant to last.

As soon as the bell had rung, indicating the end of class, the faintest of flickers had crossed the border of Hinata's vision. Already, she had been set on edge from her earlier fiasco in English where girls had snickered or glared at her throughout. However, as soon as she caught the familiar shade of dark hair she bolted, leaving behind her math text book.

And leaving Sasuke very, very far behind.

--

Her second evasion had been during lunch hour.

The whispers had quieted down by then, though not so much she could no longer hear them and eating lunch with Shino and Kiba seemed habitual yet again. She had nearly finished her sandwich and was on her final bite when Kiba had elbowed her in the ribs and hissed, "Hey, look, it's your best friend."

Confused to say the least, Hinata turned around to see Sasuke walking up to her table with a steady gait and a determined look upon his face. Choking on the last bit of sandwich, she managed to squeak out, "I gotta go to the washroom!" before sprinting towards the girls bathroom where she had hid there for the next twenty minutes of her lunch hour.

And it was only Tuesday.

--

However, it proved much more difficult hiding from Sasuke at work.

It hadn't been a very long shift. Just a four hour five to nine shift on a Wednesday evening. In fact, Hinata had been counting on Sasuke not being there due to the fact Kiba had complained to her about the important and difficult test happening on the next day in chemistry; a class that Hinata knew he also shared with a certain Uchiha.

It was not meant to be, though.

Sure enough, at her very check stand lounged Sasuke at the end of the belt, waiting for her and ready to bag items. She didn't even spare him a glance or a single word as she went up to her register and offered her first customer a shaky smile and greeting.

The first three hours went by smoothly without a single drop in customers as they came through her check stand in a steady flow. Her break had come and gone and she was there waiting for another forty-five minutes to pass before she finally was able to leave when the store had decided to go dead quiet and customers were scarce and far in between.

"So," Sasuke leaned against the counter and coolly stared at her. His eyes, though almost chilling in its glare still held that smouldering undertone to it that made Hinata's bones turn to jelly.

"So," Hinata echoed in a faint whisper and leaned back against her register, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the counter in front of her.

He glanced down at her knuckles briefly, but made no comment about them before flickering his eyes up at her and saying, "You still have my coat."

As Hinata stood there, red faced and floundering for words, she whipped her head towards Iruka who was at the front desk assisting a red faced and extremely violent looking elderly lady. "Iruka!" She yelped and stabbed her sign off key on the register. "I'm going to do returns!"

"Eh? But--"

Before he could even finish his sentence, she had already raced down an aisle, her heart pounding, her knuckles white against the cart's handle and her eyes wide. Leaning against a shelf, she closed her eyes and drew her eyebrows together in a pained expression.

Just another three days until the weekend.

--


	13. life was never this demanding before

"Ms. Hyuuga?" The teacher sighed and called upon her raised hand. "What is it?"

Wanting nothing more than to crawl under her desk and hide as she heard the cackling laughter of the girls several desks behind her, Hinata meekly asked, "May I go to the washroom?"

With a dismissive wave, he turned his back to her and continued with his writing of notes on the front board. "Be quick about it."

"Yes, sir." She murmured and bolted out of the room. She didn't actually have any desire to visit or use the bathroom's facilities, however, hearing the catty and not so quiet whispers of the back row girls had done little to Hinata's focus on the lesson. She clutched the sleeve of her sweater and bit her lip. She wished everything was back to normal.

Back to when nobody even knew her name.

Back to when Kiba and Shino were her best friends in the entire world.

Back to when her father came home regularly and even occasionally cracked a smile.

Back to when she didn't hear Hanabi cry through the walls of their rooms at night.

Back to when Sasuke was just that kid at school who she never made any form of interaction with.

Feeling tears rise up in the back of her throat uncomfortably, she jerked open the first door to her right and stumbled in, hiding her loud hiccups behind her palms and squeezing her eyes shut in order to avoid the inevitable running of what little makeup she wore. Crouching down next to a broom, she barely even registered that this was the janitor's closet she was in, only that she was alone and it would _stay _that way.

Apparently she had spoke too soon because as soon as her sobs had hit their loudest peak, the door opened quietly with a smooth jerk. Lo an behold standing in the light of the entrance of her sanctuary stood her knight in hoodie armour.

Sasuke.

"Hinata?" He asked quietly and took an uncertain step forwards into the dimly lit closet before closing the door behind him with a muted click. "What're you doing in here?"

"Wh-what are _you _doing here?" She floundered after several gaping attempts of voicing actual words.

"I saw you dive into here…I was going to my locker." He raised an eyebrow at her in an expectant way.

Scrambling up quickly onto her feet quickly, after finally snapping to the realization that she was hiding in the janitor's closet with Sasuke, she rubbed at her eyes and babbled as she flailed her arms, "I--I g-gotta, I mean, y-you--and--c-closet, g-gotta go--"

"You've been avoiding me." He deadpanned and lightly grasped her arm as it was about to smack him square across the chest. "And I want reasons."

"I…I haven't…"

"Yes. You have." He glared down at her continued to hold onto her arm. "It's ridiculously obvious and it's really quite shameless trying to deny it." When she merely shifted her glance down to her feet and whimpered in response, he sighed and leaned back against the door. "…I'm sorry."

"S-sorry?" She shot her head up with a confused expression. "For what?"

"For taking advantage of you!" He yelled back and threw one of his hands into the air. "I took advantage of you while you were really drunk, and I sure as hell shouldn't have, I know. Really I do. The fact that you're mad at me is understandable. The fact that you're furious, I can accept. But don't fucking dare to wimp out and avoid me like this!"

"I…I…" She looked around as if for an escape before snatching her arm back to hide her face in her hands and give a muffled shriek of pent up frustration. "_Why'd y-you have to do this_?"

Wiping away the last of her tears with the back of her arm viciously she glared up at him. "D-do you know what you've done to me? N-not only is everyone t-talking about me behind m-my back because they think we've h-had sex and now people th-think I'm a whore who doesn't deserve you, b-but now my little sister th-thinks I'm a drunk!" Finally, she just collapsed into herself and drooped. "…Y-you've made this all so c-complicated…"

"…What?"

"You heard m-me." She stared up at him steadily. It felt too good to finally scream at someone. To blame someone and to get angry for once in what felt like forever.

"Okay…so you haven't once accused me of taking advantage of you…but you're fucking accusing me of things that aren't even my fault?" He loomed over her, the anger and tension created between the two of them almost palpable. "_I_ told you not to drink too much, and _I_ had to drag you upstairs to the bedroom because _you _were complaining about the noise. Tell me. Where does this become at all my fault? When did I complicate things?"

"You--you--!" She drew herself up to her full height and bit her lip as she drew her eyebrows together. "You kissed me!"

"So _now _you're mad about that?" Sasuke snarled and gripped his opened palms into fists. "What do you _want _from me?"

"Why did you kiss m-me?" Her angry expression developed quickly into one of despair and loss. "I…I d-don't understand…" She withdrew into herself and wrung her hands together. "I mean…y-you're _Sasuke Uchiha_…and I'm…I'm no one."

He sighed and also deflated as he took a small step towards her. "We had this conversation already. Hinata, you're not _no one_. You're…you're…" With a pained grunt he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and looked up at the dim light bulb hanging from the low ceiling. "Hinata, I kissed you because…because I like you. Not just "I don't hate you" like you…but I _like _you like you." He finally let his gaze hesitantly fall onto her and said. "That's why I kissed you."

"Wh-what?" Hinata asked quietly, dumbfounded. Her pale eyes turned wide and she could her heart slow from the angry canter previous seconds ago to a slow, agonizing crawl. This…this type of stuff didn't happen. This _wasn't _happening.

"Don't make me say it again." He looked back up at the light bulb in attempt to distract himself from the awkwardness of the moment. "I mean…I will. If you actually need me to. But right now your response isn't all that reassuring, and I don't know how much my pride can actually take."

"But…but you can't! You're Sasuke Uchiha!" She blurted out and by now felt the blood in her face return back with a vengeance.

"Yeah. So it's been established." His voice had taken on an agitated and irritated tone, though he remained close to her, not moving a muscle from his spot.

"You were drunk! Y-you had to be at least a l-little tipsy from the vodka shot! You d-don't actually like me!" She looked at him pleadingly and felt beyond flustered. "I'm n-not even a good kisser!"

"Fuck it, Hinata!" He growled and grasped her face between his large hands, forcing her to stare up into his blazing dark eyes. "This is me sober, alright? I have consumed no drugs or alcohol, and I still stand by what I say! The only part about kissing you I found remotely repulsive was the fact that you had thrown up at least five times earlier before kissing me, and I, Sasuke Uchiha _like _you, Hinata Hyuuga, a lot!"

"No, no, y-you're confused a-and--" She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head profusely.

With a frustrated sigh, Sasuke tightened his grip on her face and pressed his lips against her roughly. Caught by surprise, Hinata had opened her mouth in an indignant gasp and in the process left it free to be ravished. She wasn't sure what to do. Really, she sorta of knew what one could do with what she remembered of Saturday night…

_But she was kissing Sasuke Uchiha in the janitor's closet._

Should she kiss him back like she so desperately wanted, or like the proper girl she was raised as, should she push him away indignantly and perhaps place in a good slap or two before running away with what little maidenly pride she had left?

Luckily, such a predicament would not have to be answered by her and the door to the closet swung open slowly to reveal a lethargically positioned body leaning against the door jamb.

"Well. If it isn't _you _again, Ms. Hyuuga."

Ripping herself away Sasuke's hold, Hinata stared horrified at Kakashi's amused face as he chuckled slightly. "M-Mr. Hatake!"

"Corrupting my nephew yet again, are we?" Before she could even spit out any sort of appalled denial, he continued on with a shrug. "As much fun as it was listening to this little soap play out, I'm afraid I'm obligated to stop this in its tracks before I end up a grand-uncle."

Horrified and furiously red faced, Hinata glanced up at Sasuke who was glaring dangerously at Kakashi's friendly appearance. Oh, this had gone so, so bad…

Before she was forced to embarrass herself further, Hinata pushed past Kakashi and bolted back down the hall to go hide in the bathroom stall to calm herself down for the next ten minutes. However, the washroom stall was never very sound proof and Hinata wished she could flush herself down the toilet or disappear somewhere very, very far away as she heard the entering of two of her senior class's biggest gossips and largest contribution to the spreading of the rumours that started of her at the party.

"…And can you believe it?"

"Not even a little bit. I mean, it doesn't even make a _little bit_ of sense."

"It's not even _fair_." One of them whined and placed her purse on the counter to dig out her mascara. "Sasuke Uchiha, making out in the janitor's closet with _Hinata Hyuuga_."

"How do you even know they were making out?"

"I heard Mr. Hatake telling them off for it when I was heading over to my locker."

"Wait, isn't that girl, like, _Neji Hyuuga's _cousin? He graduated last year I think…"

"God, I don't know, they're so different. He was a total babe, and she's…she's well, I mean, sure she's nice enough, but she's hardly deserving of Sasuke. He could do so much better."

The other girl sighed and through the crack in the stall, Hinata watched her take out her sleek phone and begin madly texting away. "I know. I don't know how she managed to hook him, but she better be thanking her lucky stars, because I really doubt it will last long. She's probably using him anyways. I hear that she works for him at The Fan."

"What? Where'd you hear that?"

"Sakura. Hinata was working or something while she went there."

"Sakura hangs out with him, right? Why doesn't he just go out with her…I mean, she's practically a devoted slave to him and at least Sakura's actually _pretty_."

"Wish I knew." The other girl shrugged and adjusted the purse on her shoulder. "Anyways. I should head back. Asuma's going to bite my head off if I take too long again." With a wiggle of her fingers in goodbye, she exited the bathroom, followed soon by the other one.

Letting her head fall into her open palms, Hinata willed herself not to cry again.

--

"Hinata!" Hanabi ran down the hallway and launched herself at full speed for a hug at her unprepared sister who stumbled back a few steps and confusedly wrapped her arms in return around the younger Hyuuga.

"H-hey, Hanabi." She greeted uncertainly and patted her head awkwardly. Hanabi hadn't greeted her like this since she was _five_.

"How was your day?" Hanabi grinned widely up at her sister and finally let of her.

"Um…I'm g-guessing it wasn't as good as _yours _was…" Hinata smiled weakly and hung her coat up on the coat rack next to her before kicking off her boots. "What happened?"

"Guess who's here?" Hanabi grinned slyly and led her sister down the hall by her hand.

"I don't know. Who?" Hinata sighed and rubbed her eyes. As much as she loved seeing Hanabi so happy for once, she was just too emotionally drained to deal with this right now. All she wanted to do was to go upstairs, crawl under her covers and sleep until this entire thing just blew over.

"Ah, Hinata, you're home now." Neji greeted with a grin once they reached the kitchen. A…a grin? Neji _never _grinned. What was---

"Father." Hinata breathed out as she saw her sitting at the kitchen table, a faint smile on his usually stern face.

"Hinata." He greeted with a brief incline of his head. "How was school?"

"S-school? What? Wh-what are you doing here?" Hinata asked and dazedly sat down across from him at the table. Her father _never _came home, let alone right after school when she did.

"Father got a job!" Hanabi squealed and clapped her hands together. "He got a job!"

"Where?" Hinata asked and snapped her attention back to her father who was quietly watching their interactions. "_When_?"

"The new manager of the construction site over past the church." Her father answered and took a sip of his coffee. "I begin Thursday."

"Th-that's great!" Hinata felt a smile break onto her face too as she watched all these former sullen and cheerless members of her family light up…_happily _for once.

"We're all going out to dinner together too!" Hanabi cheered and chanced a hug towards her father to which he surprisingly returned with hesitance and uncertainty. Hinata couldn't even remember when the four of them had all eaten together as one big family…perhaps when her mother was still alive.

"That sounds…th-that sounds great." Hinata grinned and felt happiness bubble inside her for the first time in days.

--

Dinner had been a relatively quiet affair at the new Italian restaurant that opened over by Hanabi's school and almost awkward at times due to the Hyuuga family's lack of social capabilities. However, Hinata couldn't have been any more pleased as she watched her father awkwardly ask how university was going with Neji and choke on his fettuccini as he heard the word 'girlfriend' come out of his mouth or how he gave a proud smile as Hanabi informed him of the highest mark she was receiving in algebra.

By the time they returned home, all of them had uncomfortably said good evening and returned to their respective bedrooms. It was strange to watch Hanabi receive a goodnight kiss from her father and Hinata felt elated as he gave her too a hug goodnight, even Neji received a pat on the shoulder. Tonight had been the first time in a very long time since she had felt like a family.

Her mood was not to last though as she entered her room and saw Sasuke's jacket lying on top of the chair in front of her vanity mirror haphazardly. Glaring at it, she picked it up and for no reason she could think of, put it on and stared at herself in the mirror.

"…_she's hardly deserving of Sasuke…"_

Her face was far too plain, she commented to herself inwardly as she lightly touched the pale skin of her cheek. Other girls applied makeup to at least _hide _their plainness, however she had never really seen much point in putting on lots…why avoid the inevitable?

"…_He could do so much better."_

Sitting down in front of her mirror, she opened a drawer and began rummaging around until she found a tube of old mascara, a single black eyeliner pencil that had never been uncapped or used, an eyelash curler, and what looked to be a grey-ish eyeshadow. Taking the eyeliner, she rested her elbow on the desk and leaned forwards to slowly begin applying it with steady and precise strokes.

"…_at least Sakura's actually _pretty_."_

We'll see.


	14. need a makeover dream, exfoliant cream

"Hey, not to be rude or anything, but this spot's saved." Kiba frowned as a slim figure sat down next to him, binders cradled protectively in their arms, and placed their purse on the floor between them.

"I know." They murmured quietly and began opening a textbook and peering almost nervously around at the library.

"Then—" His voice dried and stopped altogether as he took in the view beside him. Very long, very dark, curly hair. Meticulously done eyeliner. Pristine white ballet flats. Well fitting navy blue shirt that showed...showed some _cleavage_?

"_Hinata_!" He yelped in a strangled voice and grasped both sides of her face to turn her and face him. "Hinata? What are you...what..."

"Hinata?" Shino hissed and raised his eyebrows over the tops of his glasses.

"It...it looks bad?" she murmured with an almost terrified face and glanced down at her hands that were wringing together nervously. "I mean...people...people have been talking all day...and I don't know if that's good...or bad."

"But...you...you're wearing makeup. You're showing your _boobs_." Kiba looked as if he weren't even paying attention to what was coming out of his mouth as he continued to stare, horrified, at her. The stern librarian glared at him over her round, thick glasses and pursed her thin lips in displeasure. "Hinata, you're not supposed to...to...I mean, you're just cute ole' Hinata!"

A well aimed smack to the back of Kiba's head from Shino's massive calculus textbook earned a startled wail from Kiba as he dropped the hands at Hinata's face to clutch the back of his own head. "Hinata. Whatever this inarticulate idiot is trying to say...just don't listen to him. You look really...nice." Shino finished awkwardly and looked away. Not being one for big words of compliments on such things, Hinata merely smiled shyly and glanced down at her textbook for a moment to jot down a note into her binder.

"Fuck, Shino!" Kiba glared and turned back to Hinata despairingly. "But...but you're my beautiful baby girl!" He wrapped an arm around her neck to whine into her hair and draw her close. "You're not supposed to be attractive to males! You're...you're my baby girl! You're supposed to be cute, and harmless, and I _forbid_ you from showing anymore cleavage."

With another louder and more painful smack to the head with this time what looked to be a psychology textbook, Shino looked to Hinata with a raised eyebrow. "Please. For everyone's sake. Just do some form of bodily damage to him?" If she didn't, Hinata was sure the librarian would for sure do so...

Hinata giggled and carefully manoeuvred herself out of Kiba's desperate grasp. This was good. This was much better than she had expected. It however had not been easy.

After a much failed first attempt to apply the makeup by herself and ending up looking much like David Bowie in his music video _Life on Mars_, she had bawled and phoned Tenten in desperation. It took a few tries of getting out before Tenten got the gist of what was going on and delightedly offered to drive over to help her out for what she hoped would turn into a permanent makeover. Hinata had however declined vehemently and informed her that it was both a) too late and b) too far. Especially when Tenten had a paper due the next morning in which she hadn't even _finished_.

Finally Tenten agreed by sending over YouTube videos she thought would be helpful and forty five minutes after Hinata finally managed to get a hang of it and scrubbed it all off she threw herself onto her entirely too comforting bed and fell asleep without even taking off her shoes. Five and a half hours later she woke up to shower, blow dry her hair, dig out a curling iron she hadn't used or even seen since she had used it for a wedding three years ago, and begin the tedious process of giving her straight hair natural looking curls and waves. She was lucky to find this shirt, which had been thrown at the back of the closet and given as a gift to her by Tenten the previous year and the flats which were her sister's and were kindly borrowed to her.

It had been an exhausting twelve hours to say the least.

"Sorry, Hinata." Kiba finally apologized as he continued rubbing the bump at the back of his head. "You really do look pretty." Unable to help it, he added in a grumble. "I hope this wasn't for Sasuke. I heard about you two in the janitor's closet...and you know he's not worth it, right?"

With a frown, Hinata flicked an eraser bit at him and pouted. "I think that...it's none of your business, Kiba."

Gaping in both surprise and indignation, he managed to say nothing more after receiving a particularly sharp kick to the shin from Shino.

An action which earned Shino a grateful smile.

--

"Okay, well, guys. This lab shouldn't be particularly hard...though I really am apprehensive about letting you guys play with fire... I do require a formal lab write up." The young and altogether too pretty looking physics teacher looked around at the class. The boys were dead set upon staring at her ample cleavage as she explained and nodded almost robotically after she was done. "Good." She smiled. "Now partner up. No more than three to a group."

Hinata groaned quietly and sheltered her head between her arms that were crossed on top of her table. She hated partner labs in physics. She had not particularly close friends in this class and almost always ended up being partners with the school's most dumbass and impolite student, Suigetsu. He did next to no work and the most he had ever done for her was weigh a brick on a sensitive scale, in turn not only breaking it, but earning the both of them a failing grade.

"Partners?"

Startled out of her spiteful thoughts, Hinata looked up in terror and shock at Sasuke who was leaning comfortably against her desk. "Wh-what?" She asked quietly.

"I asked if you'd like to be partners for this." Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly and sat down on a chair opposite from her table.

"But...but what about Naruto?" Those two were _always_ partners when it came down to an assignment, project, whatever. No questions asked. Turning around, she glanced over at the blond boy who was currently avoiding the lit match that Suigetsu was waving tauntingly in at him and looked ready to kick the strangely sharp toothed boy in the face.

"He partnered with Suigetsu for this." Sasuke shrugged again and glanced down at the sheet which contained their list of materials and procedure. "I'll get the meter stick, the candle, and the lens. We can just borrow a lighter from Naruto, I guess." He jerked his head in the direction where Naruto had planned to fight fire with fire as he waved his own lit lighter in Suigetsu's suddenly not so amused face.

"Um...alright." She sank deeper into her seat and watched the glow of the candles in the room as a student wisely turned off the lights. She wasn't sure what to do. Act normal? Pretend yesterday's closet escapade had never happened? _Confront_ him? Oh, _hell_ no.

Shortly, the dark haired boy reappeared with the promised supplies and began setting up their lab. Quietly, Hinata watched as his long fingers expertly placed the candle on the clamp and flicked the lighter effortlessly. In the glow of candlelight, Hinata felt she was intruding on something personal as she stared at Sasuke in an almost...romantic setting.

"I hope you don't expect me to do all the work." Sasuke looked up from his work and glared at her as he pocketed the lighter.

Indignity and embarrassment washed over Hinata as she drew her eyebrows deeply together and cried, "I p-planned to do no such thing!"

A small quirk of his lips graced Sasuke's face as he turned back to fiddle with the distance from the flame to the lens. "I know. I was kidding." He glanced at her briefly. "But seriously. Draw out the ray diagram while we're at it." He adjusted it one more time before pursing his lips. "Focal length is two, I think."

"O...okay." Hinata began carefully drawing the lines as they fell into a silence that was almost out of the realm of uncomfortable.

"You know," Sasuke murmured as he wrote down the thin lens equation and began scribbling in the correct numbers for the formula, breaking the almost steady silence. "I wasn't kidding when I said you were pretty usually. Because you are. And you don't need to go the extra mile in order to make yourself look better."

Hinata turned an ashamed bright red and pressed hard enough on her pencil for the lead to break sharply on the paper. Of course. He, just like the rest of their student population, was here to inform her that she was trying way too hard and it was just _not_ working for her. Tears blurred her vision as she continued to sit erect against her chair, none of her muscles even twitching.

"...But I like it." Sasuke muttered and embarrassedly swiped his nose with the back of his hand. "You look really...really nice right now."

Hinata still didn't know what to say half an hour later as they both handed in the completed lab together.

(Though she did feel that the pathetic squeak she managed to make as their fingers brushed as they lay their lab sheets on the desk was entirely appropriate for the moment.)

--

Hinata slammed her purse onto the wet bathroom counter, hardly caring enough about the effects of water on suede to remove it. The entire day had been...interesting to say the least, and not at all what she had been expecting.

Alright, so she figured that the stares would be a given. Somewhat. And she was still surprisingly pleased when a few girls came up to her telling her they genuinely liked her shirt or hair, but those seemed to be few and far in between. The majority of them would perhaps give a compliment before diving head first in for the real questions.

"_Why'd you decide to get all dolled up _now_?"_

"_It was for Sasuke, wasn't it?"_

"_Is sex with him really as good as they say it is? Even in a janitor's closet?"_

One girl even had the gall to sympathetically pat her back and murmur, "_Really now, Hanati, you don't have to try so hard. Especially not for a boy."_

She glared at her reflection, at the slowly unfurling curls of her hair that were beginning to lay limply against her shoulders, at the red of her face even her makeup couldn't hide, and at the desperate look pouring out pathetically from her dull grey eyes. This wasn't her. She _was_ trying too hard.

Sighing, she fiddled with an end of a lock of hair and peered up through her lashes at her reflection again. She tried reminding herself why she was putting herself through this again, why she didn't just go back to the simple and wonderful days in which no one knew her name and a sentence that held both Sasuke and her own name together was never ever found.

She didn't even _like_ these people who she was dressing up to impress.

For a moment, Hinata stopped all trains of thought and let herself focus on that one statement. She didn't _like_ these people. She didn't _want_ to become one of them. Her previous delusions of wanting to become the party girl who could out-drink and outlast even the sturdiest Irish man were just that...delusions. She had never wanted to be that, but she didn't like the feeling of such hate and disgust she held for these people either. She figured...if they liked her, if she became one of them, perhaps she wouldn't have to hate them so much.

A strangled laugh left her throat and echoed through the empty bathroom stalls as Hinata considered the naivety of this notion. It was unbelievable just how foolish she could be sometimes. Shaking her head, Hinata pulled her hair up into a ponytail and gave it a quick tug to make sure it was tight.

She didn't need this.

She considered her reflection once more before wiping her lips of the sticky lip gloss with the back of her hand. She had been happy before this entire ridiculous and utterly childish whirlwind of drama. She had her lovely, spunky, and full of life baby sister who was such a substantial part of her world.

She had her proud, protective cousin who had been willing to give up his prestigious education in order to look after both of the girls.

She had her father back now. Her father who gave small smiles at the breakfast table now and even informed her that he was proud of the grade she received in history.

She had Shino, her rock in times of trouble who always was silently looking out for her, even when she didn't know it. She had Kiba who was always looking out for her also, giving his affection and friendship in almost overwhelming amounts sometimes.

She had been _happy_.

And now, she had the choice of including Sasuke in her life.

A startling bang as the door to the washroom slammed opened and against the wall jolted Hinata out of her thoughts and jerked her hand up, slamming it painfully against the counter as she reached to grab her purse. Hissing, she clamped her eyes shut and clutched the hand close to her chest.

"Oh, Hinata."

Hinata blinked and turned around to glance at Sakura who examined the counter before placing her purse on a dry spot on the counter. "H-hello, Sakura." Hinata greeted back quietly, only able to see the vision of Sakura's shirt nearly falling off as she leaned against Naruto, too drunk to stand when she looked at the pink haired girl.

"You okay?" Sakura asked with a small hint of an amused smile and pointed at the hand which was still clutched closely to her chest.

"Yes. Yes, I'm fine." Hinata reassured quickly and snatched her wet purse off the counter, ready to leave before pausing for a moment. Sakura had equally as many rumours spread about her having drunk sex with Naruto and having to go to the hospital to get her stomach pumped after the party...but still, she managed to hold her head high like the queen of the school she was and continue with her life as if she couldn't hear what these people were saying.

Before she could even stop herself, Hinata blurted out, "How do you do it?"

"What?" Sakura asked, confused, and peered down at the eyeliner pencil in her hand. "Honey, it's really not all that difficult—"

"I mean the gossip. How do you ignore it? You can't be deaf to it all." A hand slapped over her mouth as she stared horrified at Sakura, terrified that she had offended her.

To her relief and surprise, however, Sakura just laughed and placed the eyeliner back in her purse. "You really don't need to look so worried. I know it's an honest question if it's coming from you, and not one meant to...degrading or anything." She bit her lip and patted Hinata's shoulder awkwardly. "I know...I know it's been hard transitioning from your way of life before to your one now, so I'm just going to tell you what my mother told me." She straightened her back and produced a nasally voice to speak to Hinata. "What other people think of you is none of your business. Now go brush your hair, it looks _awful_."

Hinata giggled and raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

Sakura shrugged and slung the strap of her purse around her shoulder. "I know. It's cheesy, but there's merit to it. So far it's worked out pretty well for me. Well, I should actually go do what I told Hatake I needed to come into here to do." She walked towards a stall before stopping and turning to Hinata. "I really...I really hope it works out for you. You're a nice girl, and I like you even if Sasuke seems to have shown more interest in you in the past month or two you've known him than any interest he's shown in me in the three years I've known him."

Hinata gave an uneasy smile at this before hesitantly nodding and saying, "Well, I like you too Sakura. Even if you are now going out with Naruto."

Sakura froze at this, her back still turned to Hinata and her hand stiffly holding onto the door of the stall. Hinata took this time to step back towards the door to the bathrooms and murmur, "But you guys look...look good together. Congratulations."

Hinata was surprised to find that the happiness in her heart for these two was genuine.


	15. by goodbye I meant don't go

**C15**

Hinata buttoned up the last large button on her warm, cranberry red pea coat and stuffed a hand into her locker in order to tentatively pull out another thick black coat. This one was three sizes too large for her, had a smooth synthetic feel to it and—she quickly brought it close to her face in order to bury it deep into the creases and inhale—still clung to the slight trace of male scent, even when it had spent two and a half weeks in her most definitely female looking and smelling room.

Biting her lip, she stared at the coat as she held it in outstretched hands in front of her. Should she have washed it? Why didn't she wash it? She had _puked_ while in this jacket. Surely he wouldn't want back an unwashed jacket that had been sitting in her room for several weeks...

Shaking her head, Hinata frowned and rolled it up beneath her arm. Enough. She had resolved to do this, and by _God_ she was not backing out. Again.

With a determined gait, Hinata walked down the empty school hallway and down to the gymnasium where the sound of basketballs hitting the ground pounded through the walls. Grasping the handle, she jerked open the door and strode into the loud gymnasium with her head held high and scanned the room, her eyes finally landing on her target.

Sweat poured out down his head as he dashed up to the basket and made a graceful leap, successfully managing to shoot the ball right into the basket with a nearly audible swish. Encouraging cheers from his teammates echoed and mixed all into an inaudible rush of noise as one of them high fived him. Hinata felt her heart pump and clench as she watched the easy smirk on his face and ran fingers through his ruffled hair.

"Hey, it's your girlfriend, Sasuke!" One of them jeered and laughed as Sasuke turned and glowered at him before looking at Hinata with a mixture of faint uncertainty and surprise.

Cowering slightly, Hinata wrung her fingers together and resorted to peering down at her shiny navy blue flats her father had purchased for her as a gift last week in what he said was a reward for her improving mark in physics. She said she had wanted to do this, but why _now_ when Sasuke was at basketball practice with almost all the boys who had attended that party and consequently seen her plastered out of her mind, escaped her.

"Hey," The low murmur of his voice still sent shivers through her. "What are you doing here?"

Jerking her arm out, Hinata pushed his coat into his chest and dared a glance up. His eyes, still black, but bright from the exercise were intense as he stared back, the coat flung at him barely even seeming to register.

"You should probably wash it. Since I...I well, you know what happened." She murmured and couldn't find it in herself to continue looking directly at him. She instead settled for the corner right above his left shoulder.

"Hm," He commented vaguely and slowly reached up to take the coat, his fingers barely grazing hers, but enough to make her jerk her hand back. At this, Sasuke grinned slightly and reached up to lightly pull at the long ponytail she had quickly tied back in a high position. "I vaguely remember telling you that it looked better down than up." The tips of his fingers brushed her bangs that still hung straight and clean across her forehead as he retracted his hand.

Defiantly, Hinata lifted her chin and set her lips into a firm line. "I wear my hair how _I_ want to wear my hair."

There was momentary stunned silence as Sasuke merely stared at her in what seemed to be shock before bursting out into laughter. "That's good. I like to hear that."

Blushing all over again, Hinata waved her hand in front of her face. "Irrelevant. That's beside's the point." She straightened up and bit her lip before continuing. "Just...I just wanted to apologize for it taking so long to return it is all."

He stared at her for a moment before saying slowly and letting the words almost carefully roll of his tongue, "You're...different. You've changed, for the better, I think."

"I'd like to think so too." Hinata whispered and took an unsteady step back. He had somehow entered the area she considered her personal bubble and was closing in. Fast.

"What would you do if I kissed you right now?" He asked, and Hinata found no hint of smirk or mirth in his eyes as he said this. Something that altogether scared her too much.

"Oi! Sasuke! Making out with girlfriends is reserved for _after_ practice is over!" One of the players shouted and threw a ball at them that skimmed over their heads and bounced back safely over them. Sasuke turned around with a snarl on his face, ready to yell something in return.

"I have to go. Now." Hinata hissed and reached behind her to feel the handle of the exiting gym doors.

"I guess I got my answer." He growled before fingering the tall boy who had distracted Hinata's attentions and watched as she dashed out the doors without looking back once.

--

She was very glad for the new jacket she had reluctantly bought with her newest pay check. She adored the bright red of it, but most importantly, in the late January weather, it kept her from shivering as wind blew across her flushed cheeks. A sharp bell sound echoed through the cold air as Hinata fumbled through her pockets to produce her cell phone and read the new text message she had received.

_Gonna b late. Just wait inside 4 me. Srry took longer than i thought 10-10s. _

Groaning, Hinata leaned back against the wall behind her and flipped her phone closed. It probably meant that Neji was just leaving Tenten's now and it would take at least forty-five minutes to get here, and by which time it would be about quarter after midnight. She felt the overwhelming urge to chuck her phone in the gutter beside her. Everyone had left already, meaning she couldn't get a ride from Iruka, and as much as she would've had the creeps the entire way in the car, asking Tobi was out of the question too because he had been the first one to leave.

Really, the only option was—

"Where's your ride?" Sasuke opened the latch to the front entrance to the Fan and stepped out before locking it behind him. He was wearing the coat she had given back to him, she not-so-vaguely noticed.

"Coming." She said in a tightly lipped voice where the sound was flat and sharp all at the same time.

"Coming from _where_?"

"...Amegakure." She muttered and scratched her nose out of embarrassment. Embarrassment over what, she was still unsure.

"Jesus, that's like, an hour's drive away. How far along is he?"

"He just left." She resigned her voice to a quiet sigh by now. There was just no point in avoiding where this was going anymore.

"So you're going to be waiting out here by yourself. For the next hour." He said slowly and stared at the nearly empty parking lot in front of him unblinkingly.

"That's the plan."

"Fuck that plan." He motioned for her to follow him. "I don't care about your as of late aversion towards me. Just let me drive you home, because neither I, Itachi, nor your stick up his ass of a cousin of yours, Neji will forgive me if I leave you here like this."

"It's really okay, I can't just—"

"Get. In. The. Car." The frown on his face was brittle and cold and reminded her all too much of the Sasuke she had never been very familiar with prior to her working at the Fan.

"Alright..." Hinata obliged meekly and followed him to the car and hesitantly opened the door to buckle herself in. "Thank you, I guess."

"Hm." He gave a vague grunt and put the car into gear before backing out of the parking stall and driving out of the lot. The ride was silent, something Hinata was grateful for. She wasn't sure what she would've done if Sasuke had attempted to talk to her about the kiss in the janitor's closet, or the kiss(ing) at the party.

Finally, he pulled in beside her house and unlocked the doors. Murmuring another thanks, she unbuckled the seat belt and was half way out the door before Sasuke's firm grip engulfed her wrist and tugged her back in.

"Wh-what—"

"I can't—you can't keep," Sasuke's voice cracked for a moment as a frustrated and angry emotion passed over his altogether still too gorgeous face as he struggled with his words. "You can't keep slithering out of when I talk to you. Stop fucking leaving me in suspense and say yes or no, dammit!"

"Sasuke," Hinata struggled in his grip to finally yank her hand out of his and turned a bright fuchsia colour. "I'm not—can't, it's too late for this right now!" She shrieked and bolted out of the car, slammed the door behind her and ran up to her porch steps.

This time she looked back and watched as Sasuke glared at his steering wheel, shouted some profanities at it which she was unable to hear from the distance, and drove off.

--

"You okay, 'Nata?" Kiba asked with concern painted in his drawn together eyebrows. "It's Taco Thursday. You _love_ Taco Thursday. You haven't even touched the taco..."

"Wh-what are you talking about, Kiba?" Hinata gave an airy laugh that was more of a forced exhalation of breath than a jovial sound. "I'm eating it," She took a dainty bite out of her now cold taco and plastered on a cheesy grin. "See?"

"Hinata..."

"I'm fine, Kiba. Really. It's just...exams, you know? End of semester's almost here." She looked around at the rest of the cafeteria and clamped her mouth shut, signalling the end of this discussion.

In all complete honesty, everything was not _fine_. After her 'talk' with Sasuke Saturday evening, she had phoned Neji to tell him of the situation, hung up on him when he demanded to know every dirty detail, locked herself in her room and only left it to eat, go to the bathroom and go to school the following _Monday_. She knew she couldn't keep avoiding him, especially since ignoring him involved quitting her job (which she liked), moving schools and leaving her friends (which she _also_ liked), and never leave her house again now that she found out Sasuke lived down her street.

"Hello there, my favourite trio of outcasts!" Naruto's jovial voice entered Hinata's thoughts like a spear as he slammed his lunch tray on the table next to Kiba. "How are you silly billies doing?"

"Are you _high_?" Kiba asked with a horrified expression and an oh-so-unattractive dangling jaw.

"Of course not." Sakura insisted and sat herself down next to Shino who looked at her warily before scooting over on the bench to distance himself. "Naruto never gets high. Anymore. I've made sure of it."

"What the fuck are you doing sitting here, anyways?" Kiba asked and took a handful of Naruto's fries to stuff into his mouth. "And don't think I've forgotten that 'outcasts' remark."

"Hey!" Naruto whined and looked at his depleted French fries stock. "Those were mine!"

"Yeah, well they're mine now." Kiba shrugged and washed it all down with a swig of his large bottle of Pepsi.

"You guys are disgusting pigs and by the time you're twenty-seven, your waist line's going to exceed your height." Sakura made a face and spooned herself a bite of yogurt.

Hinata gave a half hearted chuckle and wondered too what Sakura and Naruto were doing remotely close to their table at lunch time. Already, their presence was attracting the stares of most of the cafeteria. They probably were wondering what the conclusion would be to the drama that happened on the night of that party almost two weeks ago.

Sheesh. Whoever said gossip eventually died down obviously never attended high school.

The almost uneasy way Sakura glanced over Hinata's shoulder and Naruto's eyes flickered momentarily towards the doors that separated the cafeteria from the rest of the school made Hinata ask suspiciously, "What _are_ you two doing here?"

For the first time, Hinata was not fooled by the easy grin on Naruto's face. "What? Can't join a few of my friends for lunch?"

Hinata never really could distinguish what happened in the next few seconds later when she looked back on the incident. Whether it was because her mind had imploded on itself or it happened all too quickly, she also was unsure of.

Yelling. That had been Naruto greeting and beckoning Sasuke over when he had entered the cafeteria in all his lordliness. Snarling. Kiba wondering what the fuck was going on once he figured out that the two's intrusion on their table was a little more suspicious than usual. Naruto's firm hold keeping Kiba from standing up and punching him out. Sakura's hand delicately and if not slightly threateningly placing itself upon Shino's stiffened hand. Sasuke calling the attention of the entire cafeteria.

Absolute silence.

He was standing tall. Very tall. Perhaps it was because he was standing on their _freaking_ _table_ looking down at her in excruciating intensity.

"Sasuke, wh-what are—?"

"Will you go out with me, Hinata?" He asked loudly, ignoring her flustered questioning altogether.

"What the _fuck_?" Kiba exploded and jerked within Naruto's still steady grasp. Shino had almost managed to jerk his hand out from beneath Sakura's before she caged it in an iron tight grip.

The entire cafeteria detonated in hushed whispers, loud comments, jeers, and pointing. Some egged them on. Some were chanting for her to say yes. Some of the girls were shrieking threateningly for Hinata to say no.

For Hinata, all she could register was Sasuke's intense and sincere eyes boring into hers, the blood that had flooded from her hands and face and were now rushing to her legs in a flight response, and the dread crawling painfully through her stomach and throat.

_Run_.

Don't run.

_Run_.

Stop being such a coward.

_Just __**run**__._

Standing slowly, Hinata scrambled off of her seat at the table and darted frightened glances around the cafeteria where every single pair of eyes was on her, all awaiting her next move. She glanced up at Sasuke who had jumped off the table and had gripped her hand in his in an almost pleading way.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked, tears sprouting in her eyes as the murmurs of voices around her grew louder.

"Because you wouldn't answer me one-on-one." He snarled before biting back his frustration and anger. "I figured...I figured in a crowd you would have to."

"Sasuke..."

_**RUN**_.

She jerked her hand out of his as shook her head vigorously. "You can't—I can't do this. You can't force me like this!"

And she ran.

--

Hinata did not come to school for the next three days. Rumours spread like wild fire in a dry plain and were speculated upon in the mean time as to how meek, shy, and totally hot for one day in her entire existence got the untouchable, unreachable and completely handsome for every single day of his life Sasuke to ask her out in front of the _entire school_.

The favourite rumours were that Sasuke had done it to make Sakura jealous after she agreed to go out with Naruto, that it was a prank designed by the basketball team, and Sasuke had been the lucky one to go through with the plan, or everyone's favourite theory, that Hinata had gotten pregnant after having sex in the janitor's closet (or even at the party) with him and he was even planning on _proposing_ to her soon.

Though nobody dared to ask Sasuke himself.

(Not after watching that one kid get beat to a bloody pulp after asking him how far along Hinata was, and if that was why she looked so fat.)

--

"I'm home and I come bearing chicken noodle soup!" The altogether too loud and jovial voice of Hinata's favourite cousin's girlfriend woke her from her groggy state. Moaning, Hinata curled up deeper beneath her comforter and just hoped Tenten would leave her alone so she could stay in her self-pitying solitude forever.

"I don't...I don't want to eat anything, Tenten," Hinata murmured from beneath the covers. "I'm not hungry. I'm sick."

"I've heard that it's been like this for three days." Tenten commented concernedly and sat down on the edge of her bed next to her. "I asked Neji if we could come down here to give you this and see how you were doing...Hanabi's really worried. She said you haven't really left the room since Saturday night." Slowly, she began tugging the covers away from Hinata's head before quickly ripping them away.

"Tenten!" Hinata cried and quickly hid her face in her pillow.

Too late. Tenten had seen the tear streaks that ran down her face, the puffy and redness in her eyes, and the tissues piled up all around her like a nest. "Oh, baby..." Tenten murmured and pushed back the hair in Hinata's face to expose the fresh tears that began to run again.

"Please don't..." Hinata begged quietly and clutched the pillow tightly in her hand.

"Tell me what happened." Tenten scooted over onto the bed so she was next to Hinata with her legs tucked beneath her chin ready to listen.

So Hinata explained. She explained in excruciating detail, every aspect of what had happened up to this point and had to repeat herself at several points when her bawling had gotten too incoherent. Luckily, Tenten was silent for a few moments in what was probably thoughtful silence, which gave Hinata just enough time to clear her tears, wipe her nose with another tissue, and sit up properly.

"You're making a really big mistake." Tenten finally said and leaned back against the headboard beside Hinata.

"Tenten!" Hinata yelled accusingly. "You're supposed to be helping me! I just cried my heart out in front of you!"

"I am helping you!" Tenten defended herself by drawing a pillow up against her chest. "I remember Sasuke from before I graduated. He was a grade A certifiable asshole who couldn't learn to remove that stick from his ass. But from the way you're describing him...it sounds like he's really into you."

"We're too different." Hinata whispered. "Too far away on the social spectrum and we have different wants. Different needs."

"Sounds to me like your wants and needs are very similar." Tenten snorted. "You want him and he wants you."

"It's not that simple, Tenten..."

"It is that simple!" Tenten threw the pillow at Hinata. "Are you ashamed of him or something? Are you ashamed for some ridiculous reason that Sasuke likes—maybe even _loves_ you?"

"O-of course not!" Hinata tossed the pillow off her bed and clenched her fingers tightly into fists.

"Then what the fuck is holding you back? He's obviously not ashamed to be with you after asking you in front of the _entire school_ to go out with him." Tenten jumped out of the bed, nearly knocking over the soup she had brought in with her.

"...I'm scared." Hinata admitted in a whisper and tucked the stray hairs behind her ear. "I don't want this to end in a disaster...I don't want to end up heartbroken."

"Trust me when I say you'll save yourself a lot more heartbreak if you just go and tell him how you feel. Can you imagine how much worse you'll feel if you see him with another girl? Knowing that _you_ could've had that?" Tenten had lowered her voice to a softer tone and kneeled down beside the bed. "You know what you want. Just...follow that instinct for once, Hinata."

"O-okay..." Hinata nodded and sat up before wiping her eyes with the palms of her hands. "What time is it?"

"Four-thirty. Why?"

"Good. He'll be back from basketball practice by the time it takes me to walk over there." She threw on her coat that had been lying forsaken on the floor and strode over to the door.

"Oh, nuh-uh." Tenten swiftly grabbed Hinata by the arm and pulled her back down onto the chair in front of the vanity mirror. "As much as Sasuke may like you, you are not going over there looking like _that_. Let me fix you up and I'll give you a ride."

Hinata sighed and bit back her groan of frustration. Something told her this may take a while.

--

_Ding-dong._

The door opened to reveal a very tired, very grumpy, and very moody looking boy.

Just the boy she had wanted to see.

"Hinata?" His eyebrows rose as he took in the sight of her. Her eyes were a little red rimmed, though the eyeliner and foundation seemed to be working very well in hiding that, her nose was a little red as well, and her hair was pulled back in a messy bun where hairs still escaped and framed her face in an adorable fashion.

Out of nowhere, her hands gripped his shoulder and pulled him in by the back of his neck to place a firm kiss against his slack mouth. Just as quick as she had dragged him close, she backed up and wrung her hands together nervously behind her back.

"I really, really, really, really, _really_ like you, Sasuke." She blurted out and stared down at his bare feet. "Whenever you're around I feel like someone's let loose a net of butterflies in my stomach and whenever you kiss me I feel like the butterflies have transformed into really loud, really big fireworks. You're always nice to me, even though I don't know why, and—" She managed to stop herself there before looking up with a flushed face. "What I mean to say is...w-would you like to go out with m-me?"

"...What the fuck?" He continued to stare at her in that unnerving way that made her babble like an idiot all the time.

"I mean, you asked me already, I know, and I—I totally get it if you take back that invitation b-because I ran away from you and..._and what happened to your face_?" Hinata demanded and stared wide eyes up at the dark bruise surrounding his eye.

His hand rose to gently trace the outline and shrugged. "After you ran off, Sakura let go of Shino and he let one go on me." He scowled at the memory. "You'd never know it by looking at him, but that kid's got a mean right hook."

"Yeah...he's been in Tae Kwon Do ever since he was four..." Hinata mumbled absentmindedly and reached up to delicately touch the skin around it. It looked very painful. She had never witnessed Shino use such displays of violence so rashly, but from watching him spar a few times, she knew that he was a very strong fighter.

"I'm so sorry," She whispered and hoped he understood that the apology was not just for the black eye.

The message seemed to have been successfully conveyed from the way he bent his head down to gently secure her lips between his. This kiss was slow and not at all like any of the other kisses they had shared which had ranged from hard, to clumsy, to just doing it in order to prove a point.

Slowly, Hinata removed herself from him and glanced up at him. "So what does this make us?"

"This makes you my girlfriend. And me your...boyfriend."

"Oh." It sounded strange to her, having a boyfriend of her own. "Will Itachi mind? Are relationships like this _allowed_ at work?"

"We'll work something out," He mumbled and kissed her jaw.

"Where _is_ Itachi?" She asked worriedly and glanced at the window beside the porch that peered into the family room.

"A seminar. He's not supposed to be back until Saturday."

"Are you expecting Kakashi today too?"

"Not until eight-thirty. Anymore questions?" He asked exasperatedly.

"No." Hinata shook her head and gave a small smile in return. "I...I don't think so."

"Good." He nodded and went back to the task of kissing her senseless. His fingers worked their way into her hair and pulled out the bun it was in. He ran his fingers once through her long hair before bringing his hand back up to clutch at the back of her skull. "I think...I think I liked it better down because I had hoped for a very long time to do this."

"Ah," Hinata hissed as he lightly bit her bottom lip. "D-do we have to do this on your porch where your neighbours will see?"

He glanced up over her shoulder after placing a hot kiss against her collarbone and answered, "Not at all." Before tugging her into the house and closing the door behind her.

--

**What? I really love writing Kiba? Hm?**

**IS IT THAT OBVIOUS?**

**Jeeeessst kidding. (Sorta.)**

**BUT LETS HOLD OUR HORSES HERE NOW, KIDDIES. This is the end. Sort of. But I plan to write and EPILOGUE, something I feel I must always do for my multichaptered stories because I do so hate leaving things without ending them sufficiently.**

**Thanks to everyone who review and faved and story alerted it and just all around loved it as much as I loved writing it!**


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